I went to Nuremberg--and it was FREEZING

December 15-18

I'm leaving for Italy on Saturday, so I guess I really better catch my blog up before I go. If I don't, I'll just be setting a precedence of laziness, and then I risk not writing about Italy! Now that would be a shame. I know how much you all are looking forward to those incredibly long posts.

Well, this time I'm going to spice things up again with pictures. It gets kinda boring looking at posts with just text. And if I'm saying that about my own blog, then I know it must be boring.

Saturday I took the train to Nuremberg with Judith and Tabea, two girls I know from Gegenwind. We were planning on getting the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket, which is a really good deal because it only costs €35 and you can use it for up to 5 people. We figured, eh, €10 a person is pretty good. But while we were buying the ticket, two other people came up to us and asked where we were going. When we said Nuremberg, they said they were also going there, had already bought a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket, and did we want to split it with them? So we each ended up only have to pay €7. It was even better for Judith and Tabea, because they came back Saturday night, so they got a round trip for really cheap.

We got in around 11:30, ate lunch, then went to my hotel so I could drop off my stuff. I was really glad they were with me. I definitely could have found it myself, but it helps having people who speak native German! The trip out to the hotel took longer than we thought, mostly because it was reeeeeally cold. When we got back into the city center, the first thing me and Judith did was buy long underwear. That was probably the best €5 I've ever spent. Long underwear may be dorky, and come up almost to my armpits, but it's warm. We walked around the Christmas market for a while after that, looking at all the booths and food. There wasn't really much different from the Christmas market in Ulm, but this one was way bigger and there were a lot more people. I was surprised by how many Americans (and Japanese) there were. I know this is supposed to be the most famous Christmas market in Germany, but I'd never heard of it until a few weeks ago. Maybe I'm just culturally ignorant.

Anyway, we bought gingerbread and Christmas gifts and called it a day. Judith and Tabea took their train back to Heidenheim and I went back to my hotel. The next day I got up early to take advantage of the free breakfast at my hotel, then I checked out and went back into the city center. It was really really cold again, so I decided I couldn't stand being outside the whole time until Jonathan got there. Instead, I went to the German National Museum, which was pretty interesting. There was an exhibit of silver made in Nuremberg in the 1700s and 1800s. There were also several rooms filled with objects found in a "typical" Renaissance home, which was really cool. Another huge room had all sorts of musical instruments from different periods. Probably the most interesting exhibit was one about changes in clothing in Germany from the early 1700s to present. It was fairly predictable--I think American clothing followed about the same progression--but it seemed like German clothes were always just one step behind. For instance, it seems like women in America started wearing pants earlier than women in Germany. The exhibit went into a lot of detail about the styles of clothing, when they changed, and what caused it. One thing I was really surprised about was that apparently a lot of women, not even that long ago, used to wear black wedding dresses! There were a few examples and several pictures from only about a hundred years ago.

I spent a while in the museum, probably 2.5 hours. After that I went to the train station, scarfed down some lunch, then met Jonathan! He was able to find his way to Nuremberg all by himself. I mean, I did have to coach him a lot ahead of time, but it worked out. We put our stuff in a locker so we wouldn't have to go to our hotel first, and walked around the Christmas market for a little bit. It was, of course, really really cold out, so we didn't stay for too long. We got some food to go and then found our way to our hotel. It wasn't actually that far away, but we had to take the S-Bahn and then the bus, but since it was Sunday, the bus came approx. once every hour and a half. Luckily our hotel was only a ten-minute walk from the S-Bahn stop, but it was freaking cooooold. Oh well, better than waiting outside forever.

The next day we got up semi early and went back into the city. First we went to the Imperial Palace, which is at the top of the old city. On the way, we stopped and looked in a few of the really huge churches, partly because they looked cool, and partly because we were freezing. If it's possible, it was even colder on Monday than it had been on Sunday. We also found Albrecht Dürer's house, but didn't go in because it cost money. When we got to the castle we looked around a little bit, but again didn't go in because we're cheap. Afterwards we walked back down to the Christmas market and got some lunch. It was so cold out that I convinced Jonathan that we should go into McDonald's and I'd buy some fries so that we could sit at a table. Jonathan is pretty anti-McDonald's, but he was cold. After lunch we looked around the Christmas market a bit more then went on a tour of the dungeons under the old city hall. The tour was (of course) in German, so naturally Jonathan didn't understand, but I had a hard time too. The guy had a fairly heavy Bavarian accent. I'm just finally able to understand Schwäbsich--there's no way I can learn Bayerisch too. The tour was interesting, but not very long. Apparently the Nurembergers weren't too concerned with finding out the truth back in the day. Either that or they were very confident in their detective work. They mostly just tortured whatever confession they wanted out of the prisoners.

After the tour we walked around a little bit more, then decided it was way too cold to do anything else and went back to our hotel. We ate at a Chinese place near the hotel (all the German places were too expensive, plus I eat German food all the time) which ended up being pretty good. Then we came back, went to sleep, and Jonathan got up at 4 AM to take the train to Stuttgart to fly back to Atlanta.

Annnd, now that I've finished this post a few days later, I'm off to Italy! Look forward to some cool pictures!

Another Christmas-filled weekend

After my German class on Saturday morning, I took the train to Ulm to visit....the Christmas market!!!!! It was everything I had hoped it would be, and more. Well, except for the weather, which wasn't ideal, but at least it didn't rain much. Get ready for a picture, because here it comes:

As you can see, the booths are adorable! The Christmas market is held on the big plaza in front of the Münster (the huge cathedral in Ulm). It's a pretty big square, but it felt really cramped on Saturday--which could be because it was insanely crowded. I could barely make my way through the crowd. The little alleyways that the booths made weren't very wide, so it wasn't easy navigating down those. And forget about trying to turn around if you changed your mind. There was also, of course, lots of stuff to eat. I ate Schupfnudeln, which I found out (after I ate them) are noodles made out of potatoes. Whatever they are, they're good. Also, all the booths that serve Glühwein serve it out in special "Ulm Christmas market" mugs which are really nice. The way they try to get them back is by charging you €1 extra for it and then giving you the extra Euro back when you return it. Well, I didn't really want any Glühwein but I did want a mug, so I asked how much they cost alone. Turns out, only €1! So I naturally bought three--one for me and one for each of my parents for Christmas. It was probably the cheapest thing in the whole Christmas market.

OK, here's the stuff I bought: two ball ornaments, a regular ornament, an ornament with the Ulm Münster on it, three stars made out of something I didn't recognize, and two Ulm coasters. I know, I know, I went a little overboard, but I couldn't resist! And honestly, when am I ever gonna be back in Germany to buy stuff at a Christmas market? I can't wait until next weekend when I'm at the Christmas market in Nuremberg!!!

That's right, another Christmas market. The one in Nuremberg is apparently the most famous one in Germany. I'm leaving Saturday morning, meeting up with Jonathan on Sunday morning, then staying through til early Tuesday morning, when I'll take the train to get back in time to work. Yesterday I went to some kind of church thing (I'm still not exactly sure what it is--what's a Bezirkstreffung?) with some people from Gegenwind (the youth group). I was talking to Judith afterwards, and she happened to mention that she'd always wanted to go to the Christmas market in Nuremberg, so now we're gonna take the train together on Saturday. She'll be going back Saturday night, but that actually works out really well. That way I won't have to walk around alone all day Saturday, but I'll still be able to spend time with Jonathan.

Oh yeah, here's a few pictures from the Christmas market in Heideneheim, which I went to very shortly again on Saturday before my train left.

Here's a picture of the actual Christmas market. As you can see, not nearly as big as the one in Ulm, but still nice.

Here's a picture of the brass-instrument-wielding Santas that have been shaking up the streets of Heidenheim. They're good, but....they need to expand their repertoire.

Christmas markets...

...are my new favorite thing. I went into Heidenheim yesterday afternoon, and while walking around, I discovered that they have a small one! Apparently it's only through this weekend, but I walked through it and it was surprisingly nice. I thought it would be kinda dinky since Heidenheim's pretty small, but they stuff was all good quality. Pretty much everything I saw I wanted to buy...good thing I didn't have that much money with me. Even without buying stuff, I love walking around these different markets, with Christmas music in the background, and the smell of Glühwein and gingerbread in the air. Normally I don't like gingerbread that much, but my mom and I got some in Munich and it was nice and soft, not hard and cold the way gingerbread usually is. And now all I can think about is getting some more. Man, I love Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, Advent is really big here, which is kind of surprising since it really is not in America. I mean, people know what it is and stuff, but a lot of denominations don't celebrate it plus it is clearly a religious thing, so no one really talks about it. Here, every town that has any Christmas things going on advertises them as "on Dec. 16, the 3rd Sunday of Advent" or whenever it is. Advent shapes the holiday season here--little kids have Advent calendars (which really start on Dec. 1, not the first day of Advent) and Advent wreaths are everywhere. I guess that kind of makes sense though. Here Advent tends to mark the beginning of the Christmas season (no need to say "holiday season" because, let's be honest, not many Jews in Germany) while in America the holiday season "officially" begins the day after Thanksgiving.

I love how no one has objections to Christmas-themed decorations here though, because it makes everything so nice! No one gets angry when Heidenheim puts up dozens of Christmas trees throughout the town. No one writes letters to the editor about the gigantic creche set up outside the old city hall. I fully agree that in the US other religions need to have their holidays represented (although, come on--we all know Hanukkah is just there to compete with Christmas) but that doesn't mean that Christmas should be downplayed. With the exception of some Turks (I assume), most of the people who admit to observing a religion in Germany are Christian, so I imagine there's not much of an objection to decorating like crazy. Also, it looks really nice.

Here are some of the odd things I've seen in and around Christmas markets: guy standing with a llama begging for money; guy standing with a camel begging for money; guy standing with one of those small horses begging for money; sheep with the most gigantic udder I've ever seen; members of a brass quintet walking around Heidenheim, all dressed like Santa.

Munich

This weekend I went to Munich to meet up with my mom. She was in England all last week for business, so she flew down to Munich on Saturday and flew back to the US on Monday. It was nice to see her, and more importantly, it was nice to get out of the house! I feel like I am here allll the time, so it was a relief to actually be able to go DO something. For anyone who complains about not having to take the bus/train/whatever: is it as bad as not having a car and living in a small town in the middle of nowhere? Yeah. I didn't think so.

So, one thing I didn't realize about Germany is that around Christmas, most of the cities have Christmas markets. Can we talk about how this is probably my new favorite thing? I had a little stop-over in Ulm when I was heading down to Munich, so I walked around the Christmas market there very briefly. It looked really nice, but unfortunately it was raining and there were a ton of people, which adds up to a not so fun Christmas market experience. I thought I'd be able to look around more on Monday morning on my way back, but it must open later in the day, so I missed it. The Christmas market in Munich was pretty lame--kind of like Oktoberfest but with some half-hearted crafts. The Christkindlmarkt, however, was great! We walked around there for a while and of course bought some stuff. I got a bunch of ornaments plus a cool little manger scence thing that has candle holders, and when you light the candles the heat makes this propeller-like thing on top spin around. Oh man, I can't wait til I have my own apartment or house so I can decorate for Christmas! Even though I complain endlessly about the cold here, there really is no better place than Germany to be around Christmas. I'm sure next year if I'm living in Atlanta I'll be whining that there's no snow.

Anyway, on Sunday after our disappointing Christmas market experience and our very fulfilling Christkindlmarkt experience, we took the subway out to the Olympic stadium and walked around there a little bit. It really is gigantic. We also went into the swimming pool arena, partly because it looked neat and partly because it promised to be warm (it was extremely windy the entire weekend--I'm still not sure if it was better than the rain). It was pretty awesome to see a true Olympic pool, complete with one of those really tall diving boards. Apparently it's open to the public to swim in, and it's not even that expensive.

After the Olympic stadium we walked over to a BMW building, which I think is a museum, but I'm not sure because another building that wasn't this one called itself the BMW Museum. I didn't find the cars that exciting, but then again, I don't usually. The building was pretty awesome though. We walked around in there for a few minutes and then took the subway back into town. Then we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant where the waiter spoke a mixture of German and Italian to us...the food was good though.

Speaking of food, the hotel we stayed in had an amazing breakfast every morning. It was a fairly big buffet with all sorts of hot food, fruit, breads, vegetables, meats. The day I left I ate there around 6:45 and I was full all the way up until lunch at 1. Ahh....I love food.

Please be proud. This is all I am writing about my trip! I know what you're thinking--without me sharing every single miniscule detail, how will you feel like you are living my trip along with me? Well, dear reader, you'll just have to miss out this time. But be prepared--I'm going to Nuremberg in a week and a half to see their Christmas market/eat gingerbread cookies, and after that Italy, so you have lots of long trip entries to look forward to!