Catchup, Dönnerstag, und Killepitsch

School has picked up a lot lately and I have been rather busy, so I am going to try and recapitulate the past couple of days, and hopefully I will be able to go back and develop the stories later. So I left off after having toured the Mercedes Benz plant (which I am still enamored with). The next day (Wednesday) we did not have class, but rather we had a little sojourn to Essen. We all met at the Hauptbahnhoff and traveled by train to Essen, which is about a 35 minute trip. The train ride was very scenic with green rolling hills and picturesque river valleys. Our first stop in Essen was the Villa Hügel, which is the site if the Krupp mansion. (The Krupps were steel barons in Germany and are now a part of the conglomerate Thyssen-Krupp) The kohle (coal) mines that the Krupps owned are also in Essen, but the Krupps wanted to live away from the noise and filth of the mines and that is why they built their mansion on the lovely  site of Villa Hügel.

Hügel means hill in German, and in order to get to the mansion we had to trek up quite a large hill. All around the mansion is an English style or “natural” park with multitudes of different tree species including sycamore, chestnut, and most importantly The Larch!

The house itself was more of a castle than and mansion, and the interior was entirely outfitted with ornate wood-work. 

 Other rooms were decorated in more of a Rococo style and contained tapestries fit for the Vatican – literally. Part of one of the tapestry collections in the mansion is actually displayed at the Vatican. After touring through the house we went over to the guest house which is now a museum, and looked at some of the artifacts from the early days of the Krupp steel company.  I liked the museum portion a lot better. Also, our tour guide was a little old lady that looked and sounded just like Hetty from NCIS.

After finishing up at Villa Hügel, we got back on the train and headed to Zeche Zollverein, which was the Krupp’s coal mine. We also had a guided tour here, but before we started the tour we had to take care of some important business. We had to essen some Essen in Essen! (That is…eat some food in essen) haha! I had some currywurst with pommes. The Zeche Zollverein was a shaft mining operation and we were able to walk all through the operation and see the different machines and tools that were used.                    

I got to hold one of the jackhammers that the miners used on their 12 hour shifts, and it was about 45 pounds! Those miners must have been jacked! (I hope you saw what I just did there). Just on the tour we walked several kilometers, so that might give you some idea of exactly how large this operation was. In its time, the mine used to produce 4 times more coal than similar mines, and the mine was actually shut down because they had mined so deep that the coal had become too pure and could no longer be refined for its other valuable constituents.

Donnerstag (Thursday) we had class again, and after a wonderfully long lecture we were all starving and needed some food. We were going to a modern art museum after lunch, and we therefore decided that we also needed a drink.  We popped in the local Biergarten and enjoyed a nice cold one outside in the nice weather and then we were off to find some lunch. We had recently decided that every Donnerstag would be Dönnerstag. As I previously mentioned, Donnerstag is Thurday, and Dönner is a delectable little morsel that is similar to a Gyro. Note: when I say little morsel I mean quite a large morsel, and the best thing about them is that they are delicious and cheap! Anyways, we found a dönner kiosk, and enjoyed our tasty Turkish treats.

After lunch we had to find our way over to the modern art museum “K21”, which was not easy to find, and we were not provided with any directions. I think Dr. Cothran might do that on purpose to make us practice our German by having to ask for directions, but I don’t know. We ended up finding the museum, but only after about 30 minutes of being sent all different directions through the city. We arrived about five minutes after Cothran told us to be there, and now we all have to memorize and recite a poem…bleh! The outside of the museum looks like a very classical building that was built in the 1800s, the inside looks like an Italian open air building, and the roof is an ultra-modern glass dome. 

I am not an art-buff, and trying to make sense of the modern “art” in the building was a bit difficult. The museum consists of hundreds of little rooms all containing art from particular artists. Some of the art that we saw included some cardboard boxes, statues of happy  little Asian guys standing in a circle, and a collection of photos, postcards, and other paraphernalia related to a stone skipping event that occurred on the Panama Canal. A lot of the other rooms that I peeked into contained random objects sitting or hanging in an empty white room. Honestly, the whole place feels more like an insane asylum than a museum.

After the museum we had the option of going to check out the Schloss (castle) Benrath. This castle is in the vicinity of my guest-family’s house, and I elected to go. It is the first pink castle that I have ever seen. The castle itself wasn’t overly impressive, but the massive garden surrounding the castle was.

We walked down a path in the garden and it felt like I was in the middle of a jungle. We came out a small strawberry stand on the Rhine River.

After sampling some of their wares we walked down to the river where there was a little beach. The beach was not a sand beach, but rather a small-stone beach. We took the opportunity to do some stone skipping of our own. We took pictures to commemorate the event, and I saved a small stone to add to my personal modern art collection. 

We finished up and went into the city to check out the jazz festival that was starting up. It felt a little funny listening to Jazz in Germany, but the music was good, and it was a good time. I also had my first shot of Killepitsch, which is a Düsseldorf specialty. I don’t typically like liquor or shots, but this was surprisingly smooth and tasty. Most everybody else also liked it. It tastes similar to root beer and pine trees – yum!

                                   

Forschung (Research)

              After a quick breakfast of cereal, Butterbrot (Bread with butter meat and cheese), and fruit I was off to the second day of class. We are so far north that the sun rises about 5:30 and sets at about 10:00 so it seems to always be light outside. The second day of class progressed at little bit slower than the first day, but I think that was likely anticipating the after class excursion. Today we visited Mercedes-Benz Düsseldorf. In Düsseldorf they manufacture and assemble the Mercedes Sprinter and VW … (A large van). The plant is situated in the middle of the city and is about the size of a small city itself. Our tour guide was from Poland and only spoke Russian, Polish and German –no English. It was kind of funny to hear German spoken with a Russian accent. We began the tour and I was immediately enthralled in everything that was going on around me. This place was a mechanical engineers fantasyland. It was literally like being in a “how it’s made” episode…doesn’t get any better!

                Anyways, we started with the very first piece of the van, and followed it through the assembly process, and watched as the vans took shape. Every little process was optimized for efficiency and quality, and the tour guide was very proud to point out how Mercedes took such care in their work. During the tour I was also very happy to find myself understand everything that our tour guide was telling us. It was kind of reassuring to know that my German has reached a level where I can understand even complex descriptions an technical terms. Unfortunately I cannot get into to many details about the plant, because a lot of it is likely proprietary, but regardless it was probably one of the coolest and most fascinating tours that I have ever taken. After the tour we had the afternoon free, and it was time to determine once and for all how Alt should taste.

                In order to come to a more conclusive and accurate conclusion our group of researchers opted to try a place that had been recommended to us by several of the locals – Brauerei im Füchschen. When we arrived there was a mass of people, and at first we thought oh great, there is going to be like a 45 min wait. But to our delight we found that everybody was just standing outside drinking and enjoying the nice weather. We went right in, grabbed and table and got to work. So far Füchschen Alt is my favorite. The beer is a perfect balance of hoppyness and maltyness, and it finishes on a malty note – which I like. After concluding our experiments we decided to verify our conclusions by trying another highly recommended brewery – Hausbrauerei zum Schlüssel. This Alt was also very good, and similar to Zum Füchschen, expect that it ended on a slighty hoppy note.

Klasse, Altstadt und Alt

After having spent the last two and a half days in London and Paris, I was a little ambivalent about returning to school… I kind of like this vacation thing. I also kind of like the not having to get up agonizingly early to get to class on time thing. To make it to class on time I have to get up at 6:30 AM, and if we are late to class we are required to memorize and rehearse a German poem.  Anyways, I was able to navigate to school fairly easily using the bus and U-Bahn, and I made it to class in plenty of time. We are studying at the Heinrich Heine Universität-Düsseldorf, and as far as I can tell the campus is about as large as that of Georgia Tech, but most of the buildings look as if they were built in the 80’s. For the first day of class Dr. Cothran was somewhat lenient students arriving to class on time, but she warned that if tomorrow anybody was even one minute late that they would be reciting a poem. (Needless to say I will attempt to refrain from tardiness).

                After a quick introduction and welcome we moved straight into a discussion about Heinrich Heine. (FYI-Heine’s best known work in America is likely “The Lorelei”.) After being inundated with dates and facts I suddenly found the topic had changed to something a little more captivating – Bier! In Düsseldorf the amply named “Altstadt” is the historic district, which also contains “Die längste Theke Deutschlands” or the longest street of Bierbrauerien (beer brewereies) in Germany. While there are more breweries on this street than any other in Germany, they is only one type of beer being brewed- the Düsseldorfer Alt or just “Alt”. A traditional Alt is served in a short and slender glass, and like all beers brewed in Germany there are only 4 ingredients allowed by law; Wasser, Hefe, Hopfen und Malt (water, yeast, hops and malt). Before I knew it class was out, and we were on our way to grab some lunch at the Mensa.

                The LBAT program provides us with tutors not only to help us with our German, but also to help us get accommodated to the city, and so after lunch our tutors Cornelius and Hannah gave us a tour around the Altstadt. However, before beginning the tour we went to Saturn, which is similar to an American Best Buy to get cell phones. Now we can all more easily communicate with each other. From Saturn we walked a little ways down Heinrich Heine Allee, which is the richest shopping district in Germany, and to an Ice cream stand before entering the Altstadt. Cornelius claimed that this particulat ice cream stand was the best in Düsseldorf, and as of right now, I would have to agree with him. I got Pistachio and Amaretto, and it was scrumptious. While enjoying our ice cream we walked to Heinrich Heine’s birth house – (see poem).  I was able to tell why Heinrich Heine so loved his birth house straightaway… there was a Dönner kiosk right next door!

                Continuing on our tour, we passed several of the Alt Bierbrauerien; including zum Schlussel, zum Schiffchen. When then came to a small very Spanish looking catholic church and went inside. A jazz band was practicing inside of the church and we took a minute to sit down and listen to them. They paused to discuss how the song should go and we promptly left. We then visited several memorials including the Jan Willem (Johann Wilhelm) memorial and the memorial commemorating the establishment of Düsseldorf’s cityhood. We also visited a more traditional Catholic church, but mass was about to begin so we were unable to stay long. After the tour we had about 45 minutes before our reception dinner at “Brauerei im Goldenen Ring”, so a few of us decided to go to another Brauerei nearby and have our first taste of Alt while we tried to set up phones.

                The Brauerei that we went to was Schumacher Alt, and upon entering we were greeted by the barkeeper. We told her that we would like to order some beers and asked what they offered. She replied that they only offered one beer and it was Schumacher Alt, and they brewed it onsite. (In Düsseldorf Alt is king.) That was enough explanation for us and we all ordered a round. Per tradition, it was served in a short and slender glass, and thankfully it was cold! We had a quick Prost “zum Bier proberien” (to trying beers) and then G’suffa! Alt is an amber colored beer, and I was quite surprised to find that it was rather uehrig und hopfig (bitter and hoppy) - like an IPA. While the beer was bitter and hoppy it was not very floral, but rather it had a malty smell, which I found to be unique. I think the best part about the beer though was that it only cost 1,80 Euro. We finished up at Schumacher and headed back over to im Goldenen Ring for our complimentary greeting dinner.

                I had Bratwurstchen and Kartoffel puree’ and my second variety of Alt – Frankenheim. This Alt was quite different from the first the Schumacher. The Frankenheim was very mellow and smooth, kind of malty and more like an amber or Dunkel beer in flavor. This brought about a quandary… how is Alt actually supposed to taste? I figured there was only one way to find out- Bier Probieren! But that would come later. Anyways, dinner was good, and after dinner it was time to work my way back home knock out some homework and call it a night. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that since my dinner was not very expensive I was allowed to order a dessert. For dessert I had a half litre of König Ludwig Weissbier – delicious! The weissbier was smooth and refreshing, and had a bouquet similar to bananas.  

Stupid Americans

We have been very fortunate with the airports up to this point, because check-in and security took only about ten minutes again. The flight from Paris to Düsseldorf was a quick one hour flight, and coming into Düsseldorf we were able to see a lot of the sights, including the Gehry buildings. After grabbing our bags a little before 8 we were about to embark on an unplanned journey. For some reason we were under the impression that someone was going to meet us at the airport, but there was no one there for us, because we flew in a day early. We made a few calls, which was rather difficult (I had to ask for help), and my host family said that I could move in early, but Charlotte had not heard from her family, and I did not want to leave her alone. So we saw a sign in the airport for a hotel at the airport, and we thought, ok we can just stay there and meet up with the group tomorrow like we are supposed to. We went over to the Hotel, which turned out to be a four star hotel, and the cheapest room was 203 euros a night, with no breakfast! Ouch! We elected not to empty our pockets, and rather to take a taxi to the closest Jungedherberge (city hostel).

When we arrived at the jugendherberge they were full, except for one dormitory room that charlotte could stay in. At this point I was about to just let charlotte take the room while I stayed up all night in the lobby. Luckily the lady at the front desk of the jungendherberge was extremely helpful and went out of her way to help us find accommodations. She first recommended another jugnedherberge, and we asked her to call ahead to see if they had any vacancy. They did not. Good thing we called! Thankfully God is good, and she then found that Hotel Ibis, which is directly behind the Hauptbahnhoff and it had vacancies… and they were cheap!! She told us how to get there by street car and we were off. At the street car stop a man was there with his wife and two little girls. I asked him how to get a ticket for the streetcar, and I guess he could tell we were somewhat distraught, and he from that point he literally became our chaperone. He got us a ticket, took us took our stop, and then to an information desk. When we were walking to the information desk one of his little girls asked who we were, and he simply replied “They are English”. I am very glad that the Germans are so hospitable…the French would never do such a thing. We finally arrived at the hotel around 11.

Just about every man that was staying in the hotel was in the Lobby watching Bayern vs. Chelsea. In the morning we got breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of meat, cheese, pickles, fresh fruit and yoghurt.  At first Charlotte was like “I don’t get it” haha. Hooray for German breakfast-meat! After breakfast we checked out and headed over to the hauptbahnhof. When we were getting our tickets to the airport we ran into two other guys in the LBAT program and we rode on the train to the airport with them. We all had a good time swapping our traveling stories on the ride. At the Airport we met up with Dr. Cothran and picked up our information packets. We then got in Taxis and were off to each of our respective host-families’ houses.

My host family lives on a very cozy little street, and all of the houses are very nice. The house is a relatively new three story house with wood floors, and actually feels similar to my house inside. I was greeted at the door by the Host mother, who is very nice, and I was then introduced to her daughters, her son, and her husband. Everybody is very friendly and approachable. They also have a dog!! We sat and talked for a little while (auf Deutsch) and they showed me how to get to school on the map and around the house. They said that I spoke good german! For now I am staying downstairs, but I will soon be moving upstairs once the other hostee from Romania leaves. Apparently they have been continuously hosting students for 10 or so years. After getting situated we all went out to a little market to look around, and then came back to the house for a very good dinner. We had lasagna with salmon and Weisse Spargel (white asparagus) in it. 

Paris

In order to make the most of Paris we had to get up pretty early, and that was fairly difficult, considering the very small amount of sleep that I was able to get on the plane ride. Regardless, I managed to drag myself out of bed. We started the day by walking down Avenue Raymond Poincare to PL. Trocadero. After a dinner of just cheeses we were both rather hungry, and we stopped in Café du Trocadero for some Petit D’jeniur (breakfast). From our table we were able to see the Eifel Tower through the Palias de Chaillot. I had an Omlet du Jambon (ham omlet) and the second best cup of coffee that I have ever had. (The best cup of coffee is to come later).  After breakfast we continued our walk down to the Pallias de Chaillot.

The Pallais is elevated with respect to the Champ de Mars, and provided an excellent viewing platform for the Eiffel Tower. The weather was slighty overcast and cool, and the clouds provided a nice backdrop for pictures, and the temperature was excellent for walking. We walked across la Seine, and took a while to marvel the tower. The line to go up the tower was longer than the tower is tall, and Charlotte is not fond of heights, so we enjoyed the tower from the ground. We strolled through the Camp de Mars and made sure to take every available photo op. We continued our walk down Motte Piquet la Tour Maubourg to the Hotel des Invalides. When we were walking down this street we saw a bus full of asain tourist all with their cameras and iPads against the window taking pictures, and two tiny cars that looked kind of like Trabants (Trabis).

From the Hotel des Invalides we were able to look all the way down Ave du Mal Gallieni and see the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. The Ave du Mal Gallieni had little islands in the middle that you could stand on, and we stood on one and took a picture while cars were going by, so that It looked like we were standing in the middle of the road. We took a brief look around the two palais and then continued our walk down the river. We walked past the Place de la Concorde, which had a giant Egyptian obelisk in it…similar to Rome, past the Musee de Orsay,  and all the way down to Place Dauphine on Pont Neuf.  On Pont Neuf there is a quaint little restaurant  called Taverne Henry IV, which I had previously eaten at with my family the last time I was in Paris, and which I was planning on revisiting with Charlotte. About the same time that we got on the island, Charlotte began to question when we were going to eat lunch-perfect timing!

The restaurant was exactly as I remembered it! It had the same awning and the same table at which my family and I ate. When I was there last we enjoyed a bottle of Beaujolais that was recommended to us by a little old man from whom we were asking directions to la Post.

(By the way… I found la Post!) And so we each enjoyed a glass of Beaujolais, and a delectable lunch. Charlotte had a platter of Ham and camembert, and I had a an open face sandwich type of thing with eggplant, tomato, basil, and melted cheese. We spent a whole hour just relaxing and enjoying our lunch…it was perfect! Oh yeah, the plat du jour was Lasagna, and about half way through lunch some Italians came in to eat. I couldn’t tell exactly what the waiter was saying when he came over to talk to them, but I knew that it was something along the lines of “I won’t even show you the plat du jour, because it is lasagna”. While he was saying he was kind of moving the plat du jour sign out of sight, and the Italians jokingly said “no Lasagna”.  From Taverne Hernry IV we continued to Sainte Chapelle. There were a lot of Germans visiting the Sainte Chapelle, and it was refreshing to hear a language that I could actually understand. We read the story about each window and took some time just to gawk.  It’s so hard to believe that the Chapelle dates back to the 13^th century.

After finishing up at the Sainte Chapelle we carried on to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is by far my favorite site in Paris. The amount of detail and the the grandeur of every little part of the cathedral absolutely amazes me. Unfortunately, Notre Dame appeared to be everybody else’s favorite attraction as well. The line to get into the cathedral took up the entire Place du Paris Notre Dame, and the line to go up the tower extended far beyond the length of the building. Had we had more time in Paris I know that the line would have been worth waiting in, but since our time was limited we had to decline. So ein Mist! Fortunately, Notre Dame offers a spectacular view from any angle, and we walked around the perimeter of the Cathedral to take it all in. 

Behind the Cathedral there was a rose garden with roses of all colors. I have never seen such a variety of rose colors.

We walked over to the other Island to check out the various little shops, and we found a little Fromagerie…wow! There is a major difference between the Fromageries in Paris and the cheese stores/departments in America-the Fromageries REEK!! I think that Americans are somewhat put off by foul odors, and therefore most stores try to avoid things that have an off-putting smell. In France it is a different story! The Fromagerie fills its storefront with only the smelliest of smelly cheeses. That being said, the smelly cheeses are quite delectable! Also, the majority of cheeses in France seem to be soft Brie-like cheeses rather than the hard cheeses that are typically sold back home. As an aside, la Post is just down the street from the Fromagerie…haha

After walking to the end of the island we crossed at Bvvd Henri, and took that to Place de la Bastille. We then picked up Rue St Antoine which turned into Rue Rivoli heading towards the Louvre. We passed through the Hotel de Ville and then to the Musee du Louvre. We were starting to get pretty well fatigued, and we elected to have a nice sit at the fountain among I.M. Pei’s pyramids in front of the Louvre. This break was much needed, and provided a number of good photo ops. After our little sojourn we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries. We must have done a fairly decent job of looking French, because the Gypsies that try and haggle with the tourists seemed to leave us alone. I think the look is partially in the clothes, but mostly in the face. You kind of pooch your lips out like a duck and lower your eyebrows when they look at you, and they think your French and leave you alone.  Either that or they think you’re psychotic and they are scared to come up to you. Regardless, they left us alone.














We then undertook the long hike up Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. Although we were both very tired, the weather was absolutely perfect, and the walk was very enjoyable. We were also getting pretty hungry, but I didn’t want to eat of Champs Elysees because the food is very touristy and expensive, but about half way up Champs Elysees our hunger overcame us and we found ourselves in a Haagen Daz. Our ice cream (and seeing a random Audi R8) provided us with enough energy to get to the Arc de Triumph. From the Arc we walked down Victor Hugo to Place Victor Hugo, and ate at a Brasserie. Charlotte had and Omlette du Saumon and I had some kind of flame grilled Canard (Duck)…YUM! Dinner was excellent, and much needed. We then walked back down Avenue Raymond Poincare to the Hotel.

Since we had an entire day dedicated to sightseeing the next day was devoted to shopping. To speed up the process, and to save our aching legs the walk, we elected to travel by metro (the Paris underground). We got up early and grabbed some Petit D’jeneuir at the Boulangerie (Bakery…they make baguettes and breads) right down the street. For breakfast I had a soft baguette with chocolate chips in it (I thought they were blueberries), a croissant, and a cup of Coffee with Milk. The croissant and the coffee were both the best that I have ever had! While we were eating two American sorority girls came in to grab some breakfast, but they brought coffee from Starbucks with them.  I wanted to slap them and be like why would you come all the way to France and get Starbucks when this place has the best coffee I have ever had.

Anyways, we took the train to Notre Dame to check out the little shops and stands, unfortunately it was still pretty early and some of the places were still closed. We did manage to grab a few little sundry items here and there though.  We walked a ways down Rue de Rivloi (I called it Ravioli street), because there were a lot of little shops there, but not much sparked our interest.  So we hopped on the train to the Galleries Lafayette. Now I didn’t really know what exactly the Galleries Lafayette was, but the Concierge had recommended it for shopping, so we said let’s check it out. As soon as we went inside and saw the brilliant stained-glass ceiling I had remembered seeing it in the numerous travel books that I had looked through, but thinking that it was too far out of the way to go to. So that was pretty awesome to be surprised like that.

After some shopping and some lunch we journeyed back to the hotel to check out and head to the Airport. It is incredible how you can spend so long planning something and anticipate something, and then it has already passed you by. Fortunately I am pretty sure that we made the most of our time in Paris, and it is surely something I will always remember. 

Big Bozo

     And so the journey "across the pond" began at the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson on its inaugural day. The new terminal is an ultra-modern building with a curvy glass facade and a capacious foyer. From the check-in you are able to see the planes at their gates, which I thought was a nice touch, because it reminded me of when I was little and we used to drop Dad off at the gate and stay until the plane left the terminal.

     Check-in and security were a breeze, and we were through and to our gate in record time. In the main lobby there was a fiber-optic chandelier thingy that looked really cool. After grabbing some dinner, checking out the shops, and enjoying my first beer on the trip... a Leffe Blonde - delicious, it was time to board. Oh yeah, in the process of eating and stuff we met a crazy little old lady form Perry, GA who was on our flight, and she was quite fond of Charlotte and I.
     The flight to London was about the same as any 7 hour flight in economy class - long and uncomfortable. Fortunately I was able to scrounge a couple hours of sleep. After a quick brekkie and a spot of coffee, Touchdown in London!! Just prior to the trip there had been several news articles describing accounts of customs at Heathrow International taking exorbitant amounts of time to pass through...on the order of 2+ hours. Since our time in London was already very limited, we devised a brilliant plan. The plan entailed getting off the plane and running real fast to try and beat as many people as possible to customs. When we arrived at customs, after flawlessly executing the masterful plan, there were only about ten to fifteen people in line, and we managed to breeze through in about ten minutes! Great success!!
     Down to baggage claim, and our bags were popping out shortly after arriving. We purchased a couple of day passes for the Tube, and, after "minding the gap" we were on the way to central/downtown London. We took the Piccadilly line to Green park and the Jubilee line to Westminster. It's amazing how familiar the Tube felt even though I have not been to London in quite a few years. When we were working our way to the "way out" I was telling Charlotte, that upon exiting she needed to look immediately to her right. I had remembered Big Ben being there, and I wanted it to be the first thing that she saw in London. Unfortunately, some creepy guys in a clown costume and a wolf costume were immediately to the right when we exited. Instead of her first sight being of Big Ben, it was of Big Bozo and of Big Bad Wolf. Failure. But at least the weather was nice, a perfect London day- high 60's and cloudy...really that's as good as it gets!

More to come later!