Has been given the nickname the Golden City which is frankly an overused metaphor the “Golden Gate Bridge” is orange not gold, the “streets are paved in gold,” it just makes me wonder why anything good is as good as gold. But I am getting off topic. Prague is a city that is quiet lovely and crowded. It is a quintessential tourist destination and thousands pack themselves into the sites and purchases things with the crowns that they received at a ridiculously bad rate from the money changers next door, when an ATM would give you a better rate and lower fee.
The city is a quiet town and it is old, so old that everywhere you go something is beautiful and old. Though I went on no tours today and in truth don’t know the significance of really anything I photographed, honestly I don’t think any one else does either. But I took pictures, saw a castles and then got lost wondering the streets to stumble upon a bridge of love where lovers left locks with there names on them. It made my heart ache that I had no lover to lock with. My heart also splintered when I watched the beggars sit with their forehead to the ground and a cup or hat in their hands. Someone drops in a coin and the beggar bobs his head in a bow of gratitude. How sad. How tragic.
I saw a castle that is from around 13th Century it is too tall to fit the tops of the steeple in the same frame as the door on my camera. I meander through winding gardens. Streets no wider then one lane, and then I stumble down to Charles Bridge, probably the second most famous destination Prague I timed it so when the sun was setting I was walking along the bridge. It is stunning. And again I sad that my dear readers can only see the photos for the camera never picks up on the right light. The sunset was the perfect shade of pink not orange, the lights reflected gently of the surface not the harsh contrast of cameras.
But ultimately Prague feels expensive. Annoyingly so. They are so careful. The “service charge” at the end of a meal. The refusal to serve tap water. The money changer offer 15 crowns to the dollar even though the rate is 18 to 1. It annoys me. In Germany people make every effort to save you money. They tell you about sales and discounts, they try and keep what you receive within the limits you set. In Prague they want to charge 13999 crowns for the doll which if your interested is around $450.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Jerusalem 2.5
This is after the walk through the check point back into Israel I headed to the Arabic bus stop and visited the Garden Tomb and Golgatha which it turns out are right next to a bus station. It was right in the middle of the Arab quarter right next to busy street and then you walk into a small gate and it is so peaceful and quiet. It was such a contrast. And right next to the grave there is the mountain known as Golgatha.
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Friday, July 23, 2010
Hello my dear readers,
Be you few and far between, I know that my post have not been consist lately I hope you have also been checking facebook for the photos that I have uploaded. Today will not be my usual cheerful recollection of the events of my travels rather I am writing today about my trip to Dachau. So be warned my reader for today my thoughts are sad.
This concentration camp is what was once an ammunition depot during WWI forced closed by the treaties signed by all parties. This place was thus ideally for a prison camp it had rail lines in and old building abandoned meaning that only a few renovations were needed to make the place into what it became. This camp was not a death camp. This camp is not Auswitz where extermination was the goal, nor was this camp Mauthausen where prisoners were expected to hoist 50 kilo rocks up a hill until they collapsed and if they were injured and their malnourished bones snapped they were shot on the spot. In fact for a few months this camp closed and 1,600 prisoners went to that camp and 400 returned. This camp was one for humiliation. This camp is one with more minor tortures, persons hung with their wrist bound behind them for 60 minutes, or beaten 25 times as the prisoner counted aloud in German. One mistake they began again. Many Poles, Russians, and others who did not speak German died upon the block beaten to death often by other prisoners under the eyes of even more brutal guards. These were the punishments administered for those who left dirt on the floor or failed to make their bed in a manor that satisfied the guard.
The magnitude of the Holocaust the care and consideration of his schemes where overwhelming, this was a systematic elimination of his opponents. And as I stand on the gravel of the quiet courtyard unremarkable as it is this is ground that feet bled onto in the Winter and prisoners collapsed during the infamous 17 hour stand while the gaurds sought a single man who escaped. This is the camp where Shiller conducted his famous experiments on prisoners, inducing death by extreme pressure and tempiture changes. This is where the children of Franz Fredinand whose assination spurred the Great War his sons were here.
The camp was built for 6,000 when liberated it held 30,000 and the year before it 80,000 with 20,000 people dying in a single winter from Typus. The official record sites 32,000 deaths but how many POWs were shot or prisoners never registered? Simply executed. The crematoriums were beyond capacity and mounds of bodies where finally discovered by allied troops. Estimates are as high as 42,000 people, greater then the population of the neighboring city of Munich.
Seeing the torture rooms the spot for the bars to hang prisoners and the whipping block now abandoned. My heart splinters at the thought of such sadness. Such grief. A testament to what happens when evil is allowed to take hold in the hearts of men, for any person with an understanding of the atonement of Christ’s sacrifice for each of us, can not help but feel the pain.
The entrance to the camp translates to “work will set you free,” and at first this may have been true, a few prisoners were released with the understanding that if they deviated if they failed to report on a daily basis they would be returned to the camp and as the lowest of the low-a repeater-they would not survive long. This sign adorned every concentration camp. But ultimately it came to mean that when you worked till death then you were truly free. For once their useful years expired prisoners where killed. They survived on four bits of bread, vegetable soup that was mostly water and worked 12 hour days. To weak to rise against their captors work kept them alive, kept them from being a part of the final solution.
For 12 years this camp operated, during that time a red cross inspected the camp and wrote the German government a letter asking why everyone complained about these concentration camps. That it was a perfect camp, no complaints. It was during those years that Hitler was named man of the year by Time magazine, he took over Poland, Austria and France. It was during those last years that Hitler finally died by his own hand, rather than face an angry world and the public hanging that awaited him. He was never imprisoned never once was he stripped of his identity and assigned a number, for him until his last breath he was free. But this man took a culture a society that was advanced and western and within a few years eliminated it. The stated goal of that camp was to strip each prisoner of his human dignity something that the Fuhr was never subjected to.
I stand in the courtyard and I like those before me I promise never again, and I offer a prayer for peace.
It is on this day that I am ever more grateful for my family, my faith, and my country. To have been born in a time of peace, to have worries that are so few, and complaints so simple, to have such moments of joy in my life, to worry about eating to much food.
Be you few and far between, I know that my post have not been consist lately I hope you have also been checking facebook for the photos that I have uploaded. Today will not be my usual cheerful recollection of the events of my travels rather I am writing today about my trip to Dachau. So be warned my reader for today my thoughts are sad.
This concentration camp is what was once an ammunition depot during WWI forced closed by the treaties signed by all parties. This place was thus ideally for a prison camp it had rail lines in and old building abandoned meaning that only a few renovations were needed to make the place into what it became. This camp was not a death camp. This camp is not Auswitz where extermination was the goal, nor was this camp Mauthausen where prisoners were expected to hoist 50 kilo rocks up a hill until they collapsed and if they were injured and their malnourished bones snapped they were shot on the spot. In fact for a few months this camp closed and 1,600 prisoners went to that camp and 400 returned. This camp was one for humiliation. This camp is one with more minor tortures, persons hung with their wrist bound behind them for 60 minutes, or beaten 25 times as the prisoner counted aloud in German. One mistake they began again. Many Poles, Russians, and others who did not speak German died upon the block beaten to death often by other prisoners under the eyes of even more brutal guards. These were the punishments administered for those who left dirt on the floor or failed to make their bed in a manor that satisfied the guard.
The magnitude of the Holocaust the care and consideration of his schemes where overwhelming, this was a systematic elimination of his opponents. And as I stand on the gravel of the quiet courtyard unremarkable as it is this is ground that feet bled onto in the Winter and prisoners collapsed during the infamous 17 hour stand while the gaurds sought a single man who escaped. This is the camp where Shiller conducted his famous experiments on prisoners, inducing death by extreme pressure and tempiture changes. This is where the children of Franz Fredinand whose assination spurred the Great War his sons were here.
The camp was built for 6,000 when liberated it held 30,000 and the year before it 80,000 with 20,000 people dying in a single winter from Typus. The official record sites 32,000 deaths but how many POWs were shot or prisoners never registered? Simply executed. The crematoriums were beyond capacity and mounds of bodies where finally discovered by allied troops. Estimates are as high as 42,000 people, greater then the population of the neighboring city of Munich.
Seeing the torture rooms the spot for the bars to hang prisoners and the whipping block now abandoned. My heart splinters at the thought of such sadness. Such grief. A testament to what happens when evil is allowed to take hold in the hearts of men, for any person with an understanding of the atonement of Christ’s sacrifice for each of us, can not help but feel the pain.
The entrance to the camp translates to “work will set you free,” and at first this may have been true, a few prisoners were released with the understanding that if they deviated if they failed to report on a daily basis they would be returned to the camp and as the lowest of the low-a repeater-they would not survive long. This sign adorned every concentration camp. But ultimately it came to mean that when you worked till death then you were truly free. For once their useful years expired prisoners where killed. They survived on four bits of bread, vegetable soup that was mostly water and worked 12 hour days. To weak to rise against their captors work kept them alive, kept them from being a part of the final solution.
For 12 years this camp operated, during that time a red cross inspected the camp and wrote the German government a letter asking why everyone complained about these concentration camps. That it was a perfect camp, no complaints. It was during those years that Hitler was named man of the year by Time magazine, he took over Poland, Austria and France. It was during those last years that Hitler finally died by his own hand, rather than face an angry world and the public hanging that awaited him. He was never imprisoned never once was he stripped of his identity and assigned a number, for him until his last breath he was free. But this man took a culture a society that was advanced and western and within a few years eliminated it. The stated goal of that camp was to strip each prisoner of his human dignity something that the Fuhr was never subjected to.
I stand in the courtyard and I like those before me I promise never again, and I offer a prayer for peace.
It is on this day that I am ever more grateful for my family, my faith, and my country. To have been born in a time of peace, to have worries that are so few, and complaints so simple, to have such moments of joy in my life, to worry about eating to much food.
Day 2
Today dawns early I am eager to get to the money changer and pay my bill before I met the girls I met the night before for our trip to the West Bank. I had spent 12 hours or so touring around the old city of Jerusalem, and while there I had enjoyed a shower. With a shower that refused to turn off, in fact I had to call the desk and the boy they sent in wrestled with the shower for ten minutes and had to see me in a towel, so it was a rough night all around.
After I was finally clean I wound up going to dinner and buying my most expensive meal, 45 sheks which is roughly equal to 18 dollars for basically a pile of meat. It was also the Jewish holy day, so they kept shooting of firecrackers which to the person who was spending her first night in a city torn by conflict sounded a lot like gun shots. Anyway so this restaraunt did send a runner to pick me up and take me back so I consider the extra price for the escort. Tangently the old city is basically a walking city there are a few roads on the outskirts of the city but in the shok no cars can pentrate, it does not help that none of the streets are clearly labeled or line up with the maps which does not matter since any local giving you directions is not going to know the street names anyway. But the best piece of advice I was given was this, if your walking up hill your headed to the Jaffa gate, and downhill your headed to the Damscus gate. Anyway so this kid took me to a place I could not likely find again for a hundred dollars, and I wound up taking a seat by myself.
These two girls asked me if I was traveling alone and when I said yes they invited me to sit with them. These girls Ellie and Laura were from Bristol, England, and so we agreed to meet at 9:30 the following day. So the at 7 am I rose and packed my bags and showered and ran to the money changer to draw from my newly unlocked card paid my bill and left my luggage in the hall and ate a free breakfast. Which the counter guy gave me, the first of many kindness showed me by these people.
Anyway I was early to the gate and they a bit late but that was due to the fight with the crowd in the Muslim Quarter of the city which is the largest and the most crowded. Anyway since it was Saturday it was the Sabbath for Jews so we took the Arab bus past the check point leaving us in Pakinstan with a bunch of cab drivers offering us rides. Fortunately Lauren was a much better batterer and finally we battered him down to 5 sheks a piece but after five hours of touring we payed him 150 sheks since he took us everywhere under the sun. He drove us to the wall which was just covered in trash and graffiti. Done by Banksy the artist who often draws political and controversial pieces.
Then we saw the church of the Nazareth and the Eastern orthodox site of Mary’s Tomb, the Tomb and Tower of David.
After I was finally clean I wound up going to dinner and buying my most expensive meal, 45 sheks which is roughly equal to 18 dollars for basically a pile of meat. It was also the Jewish holy day, so they kept shooting of firecrackers which to the person who was spending her first night in a city torn by conflict sounded a lot like gun shots. Anyway so this restaraunt did send a runner to pick me up and take me back so I consider the extra price for the escort. Tangently the old city is basically a walking city there are a few roads on the outskirts of the city but in the shok no cars can pentrate, it does not help that none of the streets are clearly labeled or line up with the maps which does not matter since any local giving you directions is not going to know the street names anyway. But the best piece of advice I was given was this, if your walking up hill your headed to the Jaffa gate, and downhill your headed to the Damscus gate. Anyway so this kid took me to a place I could not likely find again for a hundred dollars, and I wound up taking a seat by myself.
These two girls asked me if I was traveling alone and when I said yes they invited me to sit with them. These girls Ellie and Laura were from Bristol, England, and so we agreed to meet at 9:30 the following day. So the at 7 am I rose and packed my bags and showered and ran to the money changer to draw from my newly unlocked card paid my bill and left my luggage in the hall and ate a free breakfast. Which the counter guy gave me, the first of many kindness showed me by these people.
Anyway I was early to the gate and they a bit late but that was due to the fight with the crowd in the Muslim Quarter of the city which is the largest and the most crowded. Anyway since it was Saturday it was the Sabbath for Jews so we took the Arab bus past the check point leaving us in Pakinstan with a bunch of cab drivers offering us rides. Fortunately Lauren was a much better batterer and finally we battered him down to 5 sheks a piece but after five hours of touring we payed him 150 sheks since he took us everywhere under the sun. He drove us to the wall which was just covered in trash and graffiti. Done by Banksy the artist who often draws political and controversial pieces.
Then we saw the church of the Nazareth and the Eastern orthodox site of Mary’s Tomb, the Tomb and Tower of David.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Jerusalem day 1
A flight in to Tel Aviv at 2 a.m. brought a tired and sleepless tourist to the hot country of Israel, my bank card locked me out, so I had 65 euros or about 250 shekels to my name. It cost 50 shekels to get to Jerusalem by a Sherut or a collective taxi. It parked outside the Damscus gate and I marched into the deserted streets of Jerusalem found my hostel and left my bags there for the day.
In my first few hours I managed to climb the supremely narrow stair case passed the bells to the top of the tower of hte Divine Redeemer. And saw the entire city laid out.
From their I had to beat of another person seeking to take me on a city tour for like 200 shekels. It is this annoying thing that these guys do, they sit around the city looking for people who look lost and they keep offering to take you on a city tour in their broken English. "I am a school teacher, I live here my whole life." yada, yada. I had trouble shaking one of them off when I told him I was planning on going on the free tour offered he said, "fine you keep making the rich richer." In the end I did go on a tour of the Mount of Olives through the same company with their certified guides and much better english for 70 sheks which is about $20. So for anyone planning to visit the Holy city DO NOT ACCEPT tours from these guys on street corners they are trying to overcharge you and do not know the city well enough to pass the exam and become a legal licensed city guide.
Anyway irrelevant tangent over, after shaking off the angry would be tour leaders, I headed over to the church of the Holy Sceplcure. I know that for many faiths this is considered one of the most holy sites in Jerusalem. It mostly felt confusing and sad, it felt almost completely tense, like the church was caught in the middle of this ancient turf war and each faith was so consumed in jealous protection of their site they had forgotten about the place itself. The building was worn down, and it had just stuff randomly stored in hallways and behind doors,nothing was lit or labeled and it did not feel much like a church at all. Fortunately my early hour left the church mostly empty, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be seeing.
In my first few hours I managed to climb the supremely narrow stair case passed the bells to the top of the tower of hte Divine Redeemer. And saw the entire city laid out.
From their I had to beat of another person seeking to take me on a city tour for like 200 shekels. It is this annoying thing that these guys do, they sit around the city looking for people who look lost and they keep offering to take you on a city tour in their broken English. "I am a school teacher, I live here my whole life." yada, yada. I had trouble shaking one of them off when I told him I was planning on going on the free tour offered he said, "fine you keep making the rich richer." In the end I did go on a tour of the Mount of Olives through the same company with their certified guides and much better english for 70 sheks which is about $20. So for anyone planning to visit the Holy city DO NOT ACCEPT tours from these guys on street corners they are trying to overcharge you and do not know the city well enough to pass the exam and become a legal licensed city guide.
Anyway irrelevant tangent over, after shaking off the angry would be tour leaders, I headed over to the church of the Holy Sceplcure. I know that for many faiths this is considered one of the most holy sites in Jerusalem. It mostly felt confusing and sad, it felt almost completely tense, like the church was caught in the middle of this ancient turf war and each faith was so consumed in jealous protection of their site they had forgotten about the place itself. The building was worn down, and it had just stuff randomly stored in hallways and behind doors,nothing was lit or labeled and it did not feel much like a church at all. Fortunately my early hour left the church mostly empty, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be seeing.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A little kiss.
In Europe part of the tradition here is to kiss on the cheek before you say greet or part from one another. They grasp your hand and press your cheeks against the other and make what appears to be a kiss pucker with your lips, making the contact a peck, not a sloppy wet kiss.
It was a sweet custom the first time it happened.
On a related note, being an American is a big selling point with the men here, they all want to practice their English and call you for a date. I would like to think that I am just super sexy, but I think it is a cultural phenomena of the area.
That's all.
It was a sweet custom the first time it happened.
On a related note, being an American is a big selling point with the men here, they all want to practice their English and call you for a date. I would like to think that I am just super sexy, but I think it is a cultural phenomena of the area.
That's all.
Salzburg, Austria
Monday.
I have Monday off, and most of my peers don't, so I decided to take advantage of the day and bought a bavaria ticket which takes you anywhere in the state of bavaria for 20 Euros. It was a long train ride, about 3 hours. During the trip I read Harry Potter, one of the several books that I have been using for the last few weeks for these longer trips which would otherwise be very dull. I forgot how much I love reading, since law school began and pounded part of that love out of me.
So the train pulled into the station at around 12 o'clock and from their I followed the signs to an information booth the agent then directed me to the tourist desk a few doors down. Though most people speak English the signs are all in German, which means about as much to me as Chinese characters sometimes. So, I am always asking were things are. "Do you speak English?" Weir ist der Bahn holf? (where is the train?) Anyway, I obtained a map and she circled the castle and so I headed off in that direction. Taking in the sights and sounds of the city, some old like most other parts of Bavaria some exposed concrete of construction, but unlike Augsburg the sidewalks are not cobbled they are the dry grey cement of any major city.
It was a cool day in Salzburg and later I would be drenched by the rain, but during the walk to the city center I was enjoying the cool damp in between rain air. The hardest part about Germany is finding your way, primarily because none of the signs make any sense I can never tell if the sign is a street sign or any other instructions like this is a one way street. That was the problem at the HbF, german abbreviation for main train station, the streets were not labeled so pacing back and forth in front of the train station, I finally figured it out based on the alignment of the train tracks, and the street.
After the long stroll I stumbled upon a small building that claimed to give bus tours of the sites that the Sound of Music was filmed at, so I paid 33 euro that is right the ticket for the tour was more than the train ride. During the wait for the trip I found my way into the Rathouse garden
The tour turned out to be well worth it, they took us to Benedictian Monastry that Maria married the Captain during the film,
The gazebo for Ms. Lesel(sp?)
It also took us by Motzarts mom's home town, Wolfgang Austria.
After we arrived in the city the bus dropped us off at 6 pm 4 hours in Austria lost, and I knew the castle closed down at 10 p.m. SO I started walking and it started raining. This was by far the worst of the day, my shoes and socks were soaking wet. It was horrible, finally I caved and bought an umbrella, one I did not need, since I had forgotten mine at home and feeling slightly more dry in the downpour wandered randomly around until I saw the cable tram to the mountain top for the castle.
To give you an idea of how steep the hill was:
By this time the weather had lifted and the castle was beautiful, I took photos until my camera battery died.
It was gorgeous, the castle was huge and imposing and noble and frankly old. It was so strange that the present tourist trap at one time had poor scullery maids trudging up the entrance hall after a trip into the town below, she must have been sweating under her load as I did under my modern backpack. Knights peered through the arrow knocks at the great gates and people lived in the rooms that are now displays, restaurants or just empty.
After the awe inspiring trip and a tram ride into the city which the boy let me just ride because frankly sorting through my bag in search of the ticket was taking to long. During my saunter to what I was hoping would be dinner, when I was stopped by a street artist who told me I was very beautiful his "mona lisa" and he offered to do a charcoal sketch for a reduced price. I am sure it is his sales gimmick, and I am also sure that I am not the first to fall for it-so for 25 euros he spent about 45 minutes of my former dinner and sketched, this is the final potrait.
Personally, I think that 25 euro was a steal.
I have Monday off, and most of my peers don't, so I decided to take advantage of the day and bought a bavaria ticket which takes you anywhere in the state of bavaria for 20 Euros. It was a long train ride, about 3 hours. During the trip I read Harry Potter, one of the several books that I have been using for the last few weeks for these longer trips which would otherwise be very dull. I forgot how much I love reading, since law school began and pounded part of that love out of me.
So the train pulled into the station at around 12 o'clock and from their I followed the signs to an information booth the agent then directed me to the tourist desk a few doors down. Though most people speak English the signs are all in German, which means about as much to me as Chinese characters sometimes. So, I am always asking were things are. "Do you speak English?" Weir ist der Bahn holf? (where is the train?) Anyway, I obtained a map and she circled the castle and so I headed off in that direction. Taking in the sights and sounds of the city, some old like most other parts of Bavaria some exposed concrete of construction, but unlike Augsburg the sidewalks are not cobbled they are the dry grey cement of any major city.
It was a cool day in Salzburg and later I would be drenched by the rain, but during the walk to the city center I was enjoying the cool damp in between rain air. The hardest part about Germany is finding your way, primarily because none of the signs make any sense I can never tell if the sign is a street sign or any other instructions like this is a one way street. That was the problem at the HbF, german abbreviation for main train station, the streets were not labeled so pacing back and forth in front of the train station, I finally figured it out based on the alignment of the train tracks, and the street.
After the long stroll I stumbled upon a small building that claimed to give bus tours of the sites that the Sound of Music was filmed at, so I paid 33 euro that is right the ticket for the tour was more than the train ride. During the wait for the trip I found my way into the Rathouse garden
The tour turned out to be well worth it, they took us to Benedictian Monastry that Maria married the Captain during the film,
The gazebo for Ms. Lesel(sp?)
It also took us by Motzarts mom's home town, Wolfgang Austria.
After we arrived in the city the bus dropped us off at 6 pm 4 hours in Austria lost, and I knew the castle closed down at 10 p.m. SO I started walking and it started raining. This was by far the worst of the day, my shoes and socks were soaking wet. It was horrible, finally I caved and bought an umbrella, one I did not need, since I had forgotten mine at home and feeling slightly more dry in the downpour wandered randomly around until I saw the cable tram to the mountain top for the castle.
To give you an idea of how steep the hill was:
By this time the weather had lifted and the castle was beautiful, I took photos until my camera battery died.
It was gorgeous, the castle was huge and imposing and noble and frankly old. It was so strange that the present tourist trap at one time had poor scullery maids trudging up the entrance hall after a trip into the town below, she must have been sweating under her load as I did under my modern backpack. Knights peered through the arrow knocks at the great gates and people lived in the rooms that are now displays, restaurants or just empty.
After the awe inspiring trip and a tram ride into the city which the boy let me just ride because frankly sorting through my bag in search of the ticket was taking to long. During my saunter to what I was hoping would be dinner, when I was stopped by a street artist who told me I was very beautiful his "mona lisa" and he offered to do a charcoal sketch for a reduced price. I am sure it is his sales gimmick, and I am also sure that I am not the first to fall for it-so for 25 euros he spent about 45 minutes of my former dinner and sketched, this is the final potrait.
Personally, I think that 25 euro was a steal.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Rat house
This morning I paid to Euro to go to the highest room in the tallest tower of the government building in Munich. In the government building which is called (this is spelled phonetically) Rathouse. That is right they call the government building a rat house-irony table for one. Anyway I went up to the top today and I saw it for a third time. Everytime I go someplace I look around and my mind fills with poetry to record later at the blog. Words for you to convey the elated feeling and the beauty and the ancient nature of the place. But as soon as I leave all the discriptions of the perfect red and green roofs streaked with the soot of literally hundreds of years in stark contrast to the odd construction cranes. Modern scafolding swathes the building being solely restored to their former glory.
It was crazy how beautiful it was.
Yesterday after looking out over the city I went with Andrew Darcy and Maria to the Residence which was built by the crazy king, allegedly gay, who would eventually commit suicide who built large expansive castles on credit against the crown. This home was nearly three hundred rooms. We only saw 130, sadly for us tourist most of building was level during WWII. SO some of the painting can not be restored. My favorite part though were the saint bones, pictures to follow. They all sit hundreds of years old bits of body parts sold by a coniving grave robber bits of wood from the cross whole hands in glass and gold cases. The bizarre contrast of the gray bones against the glitter of the gold.
After we left the museum we went to the English Garden and saw the nudist/naturalist parading around with their nether bits exposed and women sunbathing topless. I have decided that people almost always look better in clothes. ok really they always do. The men who I found most attractive and trust me when I say this a lot of Germans are way hot. The ones I thought were the most cute where in pants. That is right I prefer the mystery to the obivious.
By then my blisters were really bothering me so we went to a beer Garden I drank a bottle of water and read a little more of "My Sisters Keeper" great book. Really heart rending. Then it was off to dinner at a traditional Bavarian Cafe were I had surkraut which taste better then Kimshi and a bunch of meat. Germany has the best food. EVER. I had a pork roast cooked so perfectly the skin tasted like the skin of the Thanksgiving Turkey. The pork perfectly threaded with fat and the potato salad was briny with vinegar and soft potato slices. NOM. Meat and potatoes countries are a Celiacs Dream come true.
My skin is sunburned now. We went swimming at the English Garden. Which makes me so glad I bought the Chacos best investment ever. Also watched the Geman v. Argentina match which they easily won and made the city go bananas. The train ride back in the subway hours after the game was full of fans from the public viewing. They sang and danced and bounced on the train so much that it literally was shaking the rains.
But the photos I forgot to uphold before I came to the Cafe. I will make sure they are posted soon.
It was crazy how beautiful it was.
Yesterday after looking out over the city I went with Andrew Darcy and Maria to the Residence which was built by the crazy king, allegedly gay, who would eventually commit suicide who built large expansive castles on credit against the crown. This home was nearly three hundred rooms. We only saw 130, sadly for us tourist most of building was level during WWII. SO some of the painting can not be restored. My favorite part though were the saint bones, pictures to follow. They all sit hundreds of years old bits of body parts sold by a coniving grave robber bits of wood from the cross whole hands in glass and gold cases. The bizarre contrast of the gray bones against the glitter of the gold.
After we left the museum we went to the English Garden and saw the nudist/naturalist parading around with their nether bits exposed and women sunbathing topless. I have decided that people almost always look better in clothes. ok really they always do. The men who I found most attractive and trust me when I say this a lot of Germans are way hot. The ones I thought were the most cute where in pants. That is right I prefer the mystery to the obivious.
By then my blisters were really bothering me so we went to a beer Garden I drank a bottle of water and read a little more of "My Sisters Keeper" great book. Really heart rending. Then it was off to dinner at a traditional Bavarian Cafe were I had surkraut which taste better then Kimshi and a bunch of meat. Germany has the best food. EVER. I had a pork roast cooked so perfectly the skin tasted like the skin of the Thanksgiving Turkey. The pork perfectly threaded with fat and the potato salad was briny with vinegar and soft potato slices. NOM. Meat and potatoes countries are a Celiacs Dream come true.
My skin is sunburned now. We went swimming at the English Garden. Which makes me so glad I bought the Chacos best investment ever. Also watched the Geman v. Argentina match which they easily won and made the city go bananas. The train ride back in the subway hours after the game was full of fans from the public viewing. They sang and danced and bounced on the train so much that it literally was shaking the rains.
But the photos I forgot to uphold before I came to the Cafe. I will make sure they are posted soon.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Week 2 Revenge of Week One
Classes began this week. Which reminded me of why I was so enjoying the Summer time. Frankly I like having classes or work. During the week I had nothing going on back in the States I went a little crazy, there was nothing for me to do. It was so dull. That is why Germany is perfect. It is beautiful everyone is relaxed, and the ice cream and chocolate is the best I have ever had.
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