Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg (and a little soccer)

June 21-22

Bremen was a bust. Turns out you can see everything there in about two hours. Also, I highly recommend sight-seeing early in the morning! No one's around to get in your pictures or walk slowly in front of you.

After my train got in and I dropped my stuff at my hotel, I walked around Bremen's Old Town for a little while and hit everything on my list: Mühle am Wall, Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Rathaus, Dom St. Petri, Böttcherstraße, Schnoorviertel, the river, and I'm sure some other stuff. I realized pretty quick that there was no way I'd be able to spend all day in Bremen--there just isn't enough to do. It's actually a beautiful city and I think it would be a really nice place to live; there just isn't enough going on to make any trip longer than a few hours really worth it.

Park am Wall

So, I went to the train station to try to figure out where I could go for the rest of the day. I really wanted to go to the North Sea, but it's kind of hard figuring out where to go when you have NO IDEA what's around there. I decided to go to Bremerhaven, which is the other city, along with Bremen, that makes up the state of Bremen. Bremerhaven is right on the mouth of the Weser River, which means it's also right on the opening to the North Sea. Close enough.

I walked from the train station in Bremerhaven to the city center, stopping on the way to eat a crepe for lunch (there was some kind of festival going on, just like in Bremen and Hamburg). I walked around the harbor in front of the German Maritime Museum looking at the cool boats they have, and even went on one called the Seefalke. I really only went on it because it has the most awesome name ever!! but it turned out to be pretty amazing. The entire ship was open to be walked around in, so I even saw the engine room and all that good stuff.

In the engine room of the Seefalke

After that I went to the German Immigrant Museum, which was amazing! It was huuuge. Walking through the museum takes you through the entire "immigrant experience"--leaving home, boarding a ship, arriving in New York, then finding a place to live. It was definitely one of the best museums I have been to in Europe so far. I wouldn't say I learned a ton (just because in the US, being the immigrant magnet it is, we learn a lot about immigration in school), but it was really interesting. A very engaging museum. Wow, I sound like a loser for saying that.

Well, I was pretty tired after the museum, but I forced myself to walk through the main pedestrian zone (seriously--did all German cities get together and decide that they were ALL going to have these? I haven't been to one single city here that doesn't) hoping to see something interesting. Unluckily, there wasn't much. Instead I walked back to the river, laid down, and almost fell asleep. The temperature had finally reached the perfect point, so it was really nice laying there, even though the beach had disappeared due to high tide. I can't believe how weird the weather is here! The end of June and I legitimately needed my (admittedly thin) jacket most of the day.

The next day I ate breakfast (included, yay!), checked out of my hotel, then took a train to Hamburg. On the train I was coincidentally sitting right in front of a British lady, who also coincidentally had problems with her ticket, and the conductor barely spoke English, so I got to translate! That is seriously my favorite thing. It makes me feel so cool, even though it maybe shouldn't. Once I got to Hamburg, I walked from the train station down the pedestrian zone (see?? everywhere!), but since it was Sunday, all the stores were closed and it was boring. After that I hit up the Rathaus, where there was yet another festival-type thing going on, the former St. Nikolai Church (bombed during WWII and left as is as a memorial), St. Katarina (?) Church, Deichstrasse, and then HafenCity, which is a huge complex built out on the river.

Tour boats docked along the Elbe

I walked all the way out to the end of it, but it kind of sucks because it's mostly apt/office buildings, and they're doing a ton of construction, so there was no shade and it was HOT. After that I went to Miniatur Wunderland, which is the largest train layout in the world. That was pretty disappointing. I thought it would be one huge gigantic train layout, but it was divided up into separate rooms. And there weren't nearly as many trains as I thought there'd be! Roadside America is better.

After that I walked some along the river, while it off and on thunderstormed (is that a word?). I decided to put my day pass to good use and rode the U-Bahn up to the Justice Palace, then walked back down through the park in front of it (very nice, but not that great in the rain). Then I killed time for a while before going to see DIRTY DANCING!!!! Which was a big disappointment. I was really really looking forward to it (who wouldn't???) but it ended up being pretty much a stage version of the movie. It was exactly the same, with a pointless side story about the civil rights movement in the 1960s that never got resolved. I have a feeling that all Germans who saw Dirty Dancing the "musical" probably now think that blacks didn't have the right to vote in 1963. That's another thing! It totally was NOT a musical. Yes, there were songs, but most of them weren't even played live!! They were piped in over speakers. There were a few live songs, but they were sung by the two--count 'em, two-- singers in the show. Of course the end dance scene was AMAZING. How could it not be? Although apparently the German version of "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" translates in English to "Baby belongs to me. Is that clear?" Umm, that is nowhere near as good as the original.

After DD, I rushed to the train station, only to find out that my train was delayed 70 MINUTES, which meant I'd miss my connection, but luckily the train I was supposed to connect with was also leaving from Hamburg and was delayed, so I could get on that one. Unluckily, it also ended up being delayed 90 minutes. Whatever happened to German efficiency? Can't I just once have a train experience where I do NOT have a delay?

Oh, in other news: Germany lost to Spain in the EM final last night :-( Very disappointing. It would have been pretty amazing to be here for such a huge win! I'm glad to have been here for soccer at all though, and especially in a year when Germany did so well! It was really cool to see everyone get so excited. I don't know anyone who didn't watch the game last night, and I also don't know any big soccer fans!

Next weekend is Vienna, next week sometime Stuttgart, then the weekend after that Jugendtreffen in Schwäbisch Gmünd. I can't believe that I have less than 5 weeks left here. Crazy! I really wish I could stay after and travel. It went by so fast.

Also, I went to Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg (where I saw Dirty Dancing the musical!!!) this weekend, so I promise to write a blog post about it soon.

Fussball

I think we all knew it was only a matter of time until I wrote a post about soccer (I refuse to call it football, because that is not what we call it in the US!). After all, I AM living abroad in Europe in a country that has a soccer team. Disclaimer: I really don't care about soccer. I think it's exciting to watch, in person, because it's fast moving, but that it's really boring to watch on TV for more than about 3 minutes. I would never seek out a soccer match, ever, in my life, to watch on TV. On the other hand, I REALLY WANT GERMANY TO WIN! This has pretty much nothing to do with soccer and a lot more to do with the fact that I think Germany is the best country in Europe.

So, this got me thinking about a lot of different things, actually. I think that my feelings kind of get to the crux of people's sports obsessions and loves: everyone wants their team to win because they feel that their city/school/whatever is the best one ever. I think this sometimes kind of gets mixed up, because at least at home it is so taboo to "jump on the band wagon". You have to pretend that you have secretly liked and followed the sport the entire time, and are just now expressing a real interest in it that coincidentally is at the exact same time as that big tournament where the team is doing really well. Here everyone is jumping on the band wagon. I know there are people who legitimately like soccer here, but I don't know any of them. Somehow it's different though, because it's Germany playing, and not just FC Bayern or whatever. Everyone suddenly is a HUGE fan of soccer. Every time there is a soccer match, and especially if Germany is playing, every bar, biergarten, coffee shop, any place that serves food sets up a huge TV and the place completely fills up with loud, costumed, makeup-ed, excited crowds. It's hard NOT to get caught up in the excitement.

That is the main thing that confuses me. Patriotism is something that is not common here--at least not of the American, flag-flying variety. It isn't hailed as a virtue here the way it is in the US. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have my theories, not the least of which is that Germany was dumped on or oppressed almost non-stop in the 20th century. I think another part of it is that a lot of people tend to very closely identify with the region they come from, like Bayern, Schwabenland (where I am), etc. A while back I was thinking about how weird it seems to me that so few people move far away from where they grew up. But the more I thought about, the more I realized that it isn't that weird. In Germany, you grow up in an area, you learn a dialect that only people where you live can easily understand, and not only that, there just aren't that many options! Germany ain't that big. You move from one end of the country to the other and you're maybe 6, 7 hours away from where you grew up. In that case, why even go that far away? Why not just stay near what you know? It makes sense that people stay where they grew up, and it makes sense then that they have a stronger regional identity than national one.

Wow, I think I'm making soccer way more complicated that it has to be! But what I'm trying to say is, I have never seen anything that has caused this much patriotism, and by patriotism I mean blatant and obvious support of Germany, the country--wearing German flags, painting the German colors on their faces, stuff like that. It's pretty insane, and actually pretty fun to watch. Any time I travel somewhere in Germany now, if there's a game that weekend, I'll see crowds of people in train stations traveling to somewhere to watch the game, all decked out in their Germany gear (and of course carrying the requisite cases of beer).

Now the real question is, which team is there a bigger turnout for: Germany or Turkey? That's a tough one. I think the excitement is about equal. I obviously knew there were a ton of Turks in Germany, but they all seem to come out of the woodwork for soccer! That and ALL THE MALES HAVE MULLETS. All of them! I don't know if I've ever seen a Turkish male who doesn't have a mullet. But that's beside the point. The point is, it bugs me that all the Turks who live in Germany are rooting for Turkey and not Germany! Um, hello? Aren't you living in a country with such a wide social net that it catches even people who aren't citizens and just happen to be residents? It really bugs me that they don't support the country they live in. I know it's just soccer, but still. It's just soccer! Cheer for your home team--the one you make your home in!

Anyway, that's enough about soccer. I really don't like it. Honestly. But GO GERMANY!

Zoooo

Today I went to the zoo with Johanna! It was a trip with kindergarten, and parents were allowed to come, but obviously Stefan and Stephanie couldn't, so they asked if I wanted to. I figured Johanna would love it if we had some time just the two of us, so of course I said yes! It was alooong day though (at least for a four-year-old). We left at 8:30 and the bus ride to Augsburg took an hour and a half. Once we got there, a little after 10, we walked around the zoo for a while. Unfortunately the zoo is pretty small, so even with all the bathroom stops and eating breaks, we took, we were completely done by 12:30. Luckily there is a huge playground at the end of the route through the zoo, so all the kids played there until it was time to leave, shortly before 3. It just kind of sucked for me to sit there, because first off, the mamas are all way older than me so I don't know what to say to them/they don't know what to say to me, and second, none of them ever even try! That is the thing that really bugs me. They all obviously knew that I was new when I got there, but no one EVER tried to talk to me in the beginning, not even just introducing themselves! I still don't know some of their names, since they've never told me! And of course in the beginning I was not exactly confident with my German skills, so I wasn't exactly going to walk up to a group of people all 10-15 years older than me and start talking to them. Ugh. I really don't get them. I guess they're content on having their own little exclusive circles. Just shows you women are the same all over the world.

Anyway, so it kind of sucked having to sit there and not talk to anyone, but Johanna had a lot of fun. She was still really wound up on the ride home, so she didn't sleep at all (I'd really been hoping she would). She was pretty antsy and kept wiggling around. An hour and a half is looong for a little kid! I took some cool pictures, which I'll post on facebook, so look there eventually.

Oh, I almost forgot--I finally climbed the Münster in Ulm! 768 steps and the highest church tower in the world. Here's a pic:

In other news, I went to Wittenberg last weekend (June 6-8) to finnnnally, after four years, go to Luthers Hochzeit, Wittenberg's big festival every year, and also to visit my old host family. The festival was really cool, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be. There's not really much to say about it, since it was really just something you walk around and look at. There were a lot of bands, although they were all kind of odd, middle-ages type bands. The weirdest thing is that they play middle ages music at times other than during Luthers Hochzeit. On Saturday afternoon there was a big parade with the bridal pair, since the whole festival is to commemorate Martin Luther's marriage to Katharina von Bora. It's weird enough that she was an ex-nun; what's weirder even is that he was an ex-monk! The parade was neat, and luckily since the festival isn't THAT big and the parade route was long, it was easy to get a spot in the front (unlike the big parade in Munich for Oktoberfest...). At one point some adorable little boy walking in the parade came up and gave me a flower. Aww!

I ran into Herr Owens in the evening, just as I was contemplating going home. He showed me where the USC students were so I hung out with them the rest of the night. I didn't know any of them, but they were all pretty nice. The group this year is much smaller than when I was there, maybe 13 people? I think we had at least 21 or 22.

The next day, Sunday, I just stayed and hung out with my host family, since I had only seen them for a few hours on Saturday morning, plus I was leaving Sunday afternoon so I wouldn't have had time to do anything at the festival that day. It was really great to see them, and really great to be able to easily speak German to them! They are exactly the same and their apartment looks exactly the same. We even played the same card game that we played every night while I was there 4 years ago. I have got to get a Mau Mau card deck. Sunday afternoon they took me to the train station, and after three trains and one delay, only got home one hour after was expected. For Deutsche Bahn, that's pretty good. So is only 1 delay out of 3. Do not believe it when people say Germans are efficient. The train system has got to the be the worst, and most expensive, in Europe. Granted, the trains are nice, but they are NEVER on time. There have been a few times when trains I've been on have been on time, but they've always been short trips. Every time I've made a long-distance trip there has been a delay. But, enough about Deutsche Bahn and my loathing of them. It was so great to go back to Wittenberg, see my old host family, and just to see the city. Heidenheim is the same size as Wittenberg, population-wise, but Wittenberg is way above Heidenheim in terms of niceness of the city and just things to do. Wittenberg also isn't as in the middle of nowhere as Heidenheim is, so that probably helps, plus it's a short drive or train ride away from Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and other places.

In other other news, I'm going to Bremen and Hamburg next weekend! I'll only be up there for two days, but from what I've heard and what I've looked up, one day might be too little for each city, but there's not that much to do in either one. And, next Sunday night in Hamburg....I'm seeing Dirty Dancing the musical!!!!!!! Ahhh!!! God, I love that movie. Patrick Swayze, I'm saying a little prayer for your cancer right now. And then the first weekend in July, I"m going to Vienna! I'm hoping to get in one more weekend trip after that. I was thinking of going to Zagreb, but I'm just not sure it'll work out. Maybe I'll do a weekend in Stuttgart, or Zurich. I'll have to think about it. I can't believe I have only a little over a month and a half left here! There are still so many places I want to see, but oh well. My money is starting to run out.

Prague

May 31-June1

No, I'm not going to make any lame jokes like "Czech yourself". It always really bugs me for some reason when people do that. Summary of Prague: the most beautiful city I have been to so far! Oddest thing about Prague: it really really reminded me of Budapest--not in the stuff in the city, but in the physical layout of it. It's divided into two parts by a river, just like Budapest. The left side has two big hills, just like Budapest. The southern hill (mountain?) is larger than the northern one, just like Budapest. The northern hill has a large castle, just like Budapest. I didn't realize the similarities until I was on the top of the southern hill looking down at the castle on the northern one. I felt like I'd seen it all before....I guess that's kind of what happens traveling around Europe for a year, though.

I was only in Prague for two days, so there's not too much to say. I took a bus Friday night from Ulm and arrived into Prague on Saturday morning. At 5 AM. It was already light out. Needless to say, not much was going on. I walked to my hostel (Prague is a very walkable city, by the way), and no one answered when I rang the buzzer. I had to call them from my cell phone and ask them to let me in. Their response? "Someone will be there at 9 AM." AKA in 3.5 hours. Uh, no thanks. Luckily, getting angry gets results in every country, and they told me someone was coming at 7 AM to take people to the airport and he would let me in (why didn't they just say this the first time?). So I sat in the Old Town Square for an hour and a half and read a book. One great thing about being out so early is that there are NO other tourists. I never saw the Old Town Square that empty again. It was pretty nice actually.

Old Town Square at 7 AM on a Saturday

After I dropped off my stuff at my hostel, I walked across the Charles Bridge, also pleasantly tourist-free, and up to Prague Castle. There wasn't too much to see there since it was so early, but I walked around a little bit until it was 9, and then I went to a musem about the history of Prague Castle. It was incredibly boring. I do not recommend it if you're there. Luckily it was cheap, so I only wasted about $3. There was some kind of military band playing up there as I was leaving. That was pretty neat. I was gonna go into St. Vitus Cathedral, but the line was insanely long, so I vetoed that. Instead I walked back down, swung by St. Nicholas Church (one of the two St. Nicholas Churches in Prague), decided against that because it cost 50 Kr (what kind of church costs money to get in???), and instead walked to Wallenstein Palace, which had really nice gardens and some loud peacocks. Then after lunch I went on a river cruise which I 95% decided to go on because it was so hot out. It was pretty expensive, but whatever. I was so tired from the bus and walking around that I could barely keep my eyes open on the boat. Then afterwards I rode the funicular (no way was I walking) to the top of Petrin Hill, then climbed Petrin Tower, supposedly a mini-version of the Eiffel Tower (although still a good 90 m high).

View from Petrin Tower

Then I exhaustedly walked back down the hill. Mistake. That sucker is STEEP. I also inadvertantly walked more to the right, making it a lot longer. For some reason after that (maybe I was feeling like torturing myself) I walked across one of the bridges to see the National Theater, and then down to the Fred and Ginger Dancing Building, which is SO COOL. I didn't go in or anything, but you don't need to. It's just awesome-looking. Afterwards I walked to Wenceslas Square, which was a big disappointment, since it's not so much a square as a strip in the middle of the road with some benches. After walking about 18,975 miles, I ate dinner, went back to my (burning hot because it's Europe and they don't have air conditioning anywhere) hostel room. Oh well, at least I had my own room and a nice view.

The next day I woke up semi early, because there was a sign that said that check out was by 10 AM. At 9:30 I went to check out.....and no one was there. I waited for a few minutes, checked the common areas, and then had to call the hostel. Again. They told me someone would be there at 10:30. 10:30! FYI: If you ever go to Prague, do NOT stay at the Condor 1, because they have HORRIBLE service! Actually, it's non-existent, since no one is ever there! They also said I couldn't leave my bag, because my bus left late at night, and naturally no one would be there. Great. So I had to walk to the bus station and leave it in the luggage place there (luckily really cheap) and then walk back. I wanted to go on a free tour at 10:30, and with having to walk there and back, I just made it. The free tour was pretty good. I learned a decent amount about Prague. We also saw a lot of stuff that I had seen already, which means I could have saved myself all that walking. We saw a bunch of the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, the Charles Bridge, the National Theater, and the theater where Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered, plus assorted stuff in the Old Town Square, including the astronomical clock, which is really cool. After the tour I ate lunch then went into the other St. Nicholas Church, which luckily was free to get into. Then I couldn't hold out in the hot weather anymore and went to one of the parks on the Lesser Side and read for a while, and afterwards was finally able to find the Lennon Wall! Which wasn't that exciting. I'm still not sure what it's about. Something about John Lennon, obviously. Then the Municipal Hall, which I got stuck inside for a little bit while it rained, then the mall since I decided that would be more interesting, and then dinner, since it was still raining. After dinner I walked up to the metronome (what's it keeping time for?) on another hill above the city, where there were a bunch of slightly sketchy people hanging. I walked back through the Jewish Quarter again, which is actually pretty nice, and since I wasn't on a tour I could stop and look at stuff.

The Spanish Synagogue

Then, back to the Old Town Square where I whiled away some time before heading to the bus station to while away some more time. Then I came home. The worst part--the train I took from Ulm to Heidenheim got into Heidenheim at 6:58, the exact same time as the bus to Heuchlingen was supposed to leave. I got out of the train the second it stopped, ran as fast as I could while carrying my bags to the bus station, and got there just in time to see the bus pull out. I was too far away to flag it down. I even tried running to the next stop, but since no one was waiting there, I had no shot. Instead, I had to wait 3.5 hours until the next bus left. Luckily in that time I was able to take a 15-minute power nap in the mall.

Prague overall: really cool and a beautiful city. Two days was enough though. If I wasn't museum-ed out, I probably would have wanted more time, but as it was I thought one weekend was perfect. Europe has GOT to get air conditioning though. Or at least fans.

Paris

May 22-25

I'm finally getting around to writing about Paris, only two weeks late! I figured I'd better write about it before going on yet another trip--tomorrow I leave for Wittenberg, to visit my host family from four years ago and finally see Luthers Hochzeit! Who knows, maybe I'll even see the USC study abroad group there.

So, before I say anything else about Paris, I have to say that above all, Paris was a bit of a disappointment. Not that it wasn't a great and exciting city, and an awesome trip, but I think it has been built up so much as such a fabulous, amazing place, that there was no way it could live up to my expectations. Surprisingly, it wasn't as beautiful as I thought it would be. Everything was really nice, of course, but the buildings were all pretty much the same, nothing too distinctive. Prague (where I went last weekend) was a much nicer city to walk around. I also think what spoils my view of Paris a little bit is all the freakin TOURISTS. I mean, not that other people shouldn't go to Paris and enjoy it, but there were SO MANY other tourists there. It seems like most tourists are just completely absent-minded too, and don't think at all about the fact that there may be other people walking around with a different agenda. They're like, "Hmm, I can't figure out where I'm going. How about I stop here in the middle of the sidewalk with my eight children, husband, parents, and dog?"

Aside from the tourists, Paris was really nice. The weather was perfect. It only rained one day, and only about half the day at that. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too chilly.

The first day I got into Paris around 10 (a 3-hour delay that no one mentioned, due to construction), and after dumping my stuff at my hotel (which was really nice for only 33 euros per night, by the way) I began my Paris sight-seeing experience. First I went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed it, walked down to the Eiffel Tower (eating a crepe for refreshment along the way), took one look at the line and decided no way was I going up right then. Instead I walked to the Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is. I didn't go in because I thought that it wasn't included in my museum pass, but I found out two days later that it was. Oh well. After that I went to the Rodin Museum, which was disappointing. I like the one in Philadelphia much more. Afterwards I walked along the river, thought about going to the Sainte-Chappelle but the line was too long, and instead went to Notre Dame. I climbed that (second climb of the day!), which was pretty cool, especially all the gargoyles.

The Rodin Museum

The next day I tried to get to the Eiffel Tower exactly at 9:30, which is what time it opens. The line was pretty long, but luckily it moved fast since I didn't want to take the elevator (I'm too cheap). I climbed the stairs to the first and second levels, but from there you have to take an elevator to the top. I wasn't about to miss out on that, so I forked over the 4 euros. What an amazing view! It felt so surreal to be so high up, at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was kind of hard to get a good view though, because there were so many people up there. I'm glad I didn't go any later, because the line only got longer. After Eiffel Tower-ing, I ate some lunch then went on a free tour. The tour was good, but I was expecting it to be better--I think from my free tour experience in Berlin, run by the same company, which was excellent. Almost all the people on the tour were young college-age students, and I met a girl, Yvonne, from Canada traveling around by herself. We walked around a little bit together after the tour, and made plans to meet up the next day to go to Versailles. After we ate dinner I went to Sacre Coeur, which wasn't too far from my hotel. That was quite an experience. The church was pretty amazing, but the shady people selling lame bracelets outside weren't. I'm glad I didn't go any later than 7:30 or 8; I would have undoubtedly gotten raped, mugged, and clothed in string bracelets.


Third day I met up with Yvonne near her hostel so we could take the train out to Versailles. Versailles=biggest disappointment of the trip. The palace was nice and all, but it was kind of boring inside. Of course it was ornate, but it looked pretty much like every other palace I've seen, plus it had almost no furniture inside. I shared Yvonne's audioguide with her (since one didn't come with my museum pass and no way was I paying 6 euros for one), and I'm glad I didn't pay extra, because it didn't give much info at all. On top of that, it costs 8 euros to get into the gardens! Neither of us went in because 8 euros on top of the 13.50 entry fee is just a little too much. After we got back into Paris we walked around a little bit in the rain and ate dinner. Then we parted ways and I went back to my hotel, making a detour to see the Moulin Rouge and peek through the gate at the Montmartre Cemetary.

Versailles

My last day I had designated my Museum Day. My goal: go to three art museums in one day without keeling over. Somehow I succeeded. I started my day off my walking down the Champs Elysees (another highly overrated Paris attraction) to the Jardin de Tuileries and the Louvre. In the Louvre I decided to see the Mona Lisa first just to get that out of the way. It was cool and all, but there were about 50 people standing in front of it all trying to take pictures. I'm glad I'm small; it took me about 5 seconds to squeeze my way up to the front. Luckily once I got away from the Mona Lisa and to the opposite end of the museum, there was hardly anyone around. My Louvre highlights: the Spanish painters, Napoleon III's apartments, and the Dutch painters. After two hours in the Louvre, I fortified myself for my next museum by eating some crepes in the Jardin de Tuileries, then head to the Musee de l'Orangerie. The Orangerie was by far my favorite museum. It has two huge oval-shaped rooms housing a bunch of Monet's Waterlilies paintings. Downstairs it has the Walter-Guillaume collection of impressionist paintings, which I loved, since impressionism is my favorite art movement. After the Orangerie I dragged myself across the street to the Musee d'Orsay. I breezed through most of that, because I really only wanted to see the impressionist paintings.

Family Reunion by Frederic Bazille, my favorite painting in the Musee d'Orsay

After finishing with all the museums I walked along the river for a while, trying to not fall over from exhaustion. Somehow being in museums wears me out much faster than just walking around. Afterwards I went to the Place de la Bastille just to see if there was anything interesting. There wasn't. Then I went and ate dinner, collected my stuff from my hotel, and went to the train station to wait to go back home. When I got back to Heidenheim the next morning, I had to wait a while for the bus, but while there I was able to get the second part of Johanna's birthday present: sparkly, flowered flip flops from H&M which she LOVED. Every time she wears them now she tells that her flip flops are much prettier than mine.