Happy Birthday to me! October 14, 2009

I started my birthday with a surprise from my host mother. She had a made a breakfast cake and had a candle in the center.

She also had a necklace for me that is totally my style. It was a nice start to the day. Things got a little strange from there. Our next stop was a farm that produces energy from crops and cows.

Needless to say, it was a very stinky operation. I was told there would be dogs at this farm, but no such luck. After the farm, we had a tour of a brewery (Meissner Schwerter Brauerei) and had lunch there.

The brewery was stinky too. My next tour was supposed to be a toilet factory and the Meissen porcelain factory. Instead I had to make an emergency trip to Dresden because my boots were falling apart. In Dresden I only had one hour, which wasn’t nearly enough. I did manage to find a pair of boots and a hat though. I met back up with the group at Meissen.

I was disappointed that I missed the tour, but it was a really good thing that I got the boots and hat because it snowed the next day. That evening we had time to wander the old town of Meissen, but of course everything was already closed for the night. Dena, Ryan, and I did find a cool little hideaway for some hot chocolate and coffee.

We had another Rotary meeting that night next to the cathedral, but we never actually got to see the cathedral which was also a let down. On a positive note, I was presented with a bouquet of flowers at the meeting and sang to for my birthday. In the next photo is a group shot including the Prince we previously met. He is the one in the green sweater.

Catching up again...October 13, 2009

This morning started early with a visit to a neo-renaissance style church. Next we got on a steam engine train that took us to the castle in Moritz.

We toured the castle/hunting lodge there. I especially enjoyed all the sculptures and art featuring dogs.

After the hunting lodge, our host mother met us and took Ryan, Dena and I back to Dresden to visit the Old Masters Picture Gallery. We started by viewing the Georg Baselitz exhibit and then to the old masters.

My favorites included the Sistine Madonna by Raphael and the hot chocolate maid.

Our next stop was a vineyard called Weingut Schloss Proschwitz Prinz Zur Lippe. We were greeted by the owner, who is Prince Lippe. We got a tour and samples of the winery.

 

October 22, 2009

Today we started the day with a presentation from the director of the Museum of Nuremberg. Our next stop was the Albrect-Dürer House.

Our tour guide played the part of Dürer’s wife, Agnes . For lunch we had more German food. I had my favorite speatzel with cheese and onions. I also was quite brave and tried smoked beer. It kind of tasted like beef jerky, so I didn’t hate it.

Our next tour was of the City Museum to get some history of the city. I’m always most fascinated to see how terribly it was bombed in WWII and how well the city has been restored since then. Our last tour of the day was at the New Museum.

This was also a guided tour, but there’s something wrong about having a tour guide at a modern art museum. I had to escape from the tour, so I first went to see if there was someone I could speak to about hosting events there and when that didn’t work out, I still had to wander the museum without a guide. For dinner, we went to a German restaurant, but luckily they had some different cuisines. I went with grilled chicken with a coconut peanut sauce.

October 21, 2009

I nearly froze to death this morning. Thanks to Ryan and his warm, blue scarf, I didn’t turn in to an icicle. We had started with a tour of the castle in Nuremberg, but it was a wintry -2° Celsius. I wasn’t dressed for that kind of cold at all, so I pretty much lost all interest in what we were looking at. After what seemed like hours, we finally made it to a café for some warm and tasty hot chocolate. From there we went to St. Sebaldus Church and the Church of Our Lady.

We finished the tour with a walk around the main market square. We all twisted the loop on the fountain for good luck and enjoyed the figures that came out of the clock at noon.

Lunch consisted of bratwurst and more bratwurst. I’ve never eaten so much wurst in my life.

After lunch we had a tour of the German National Museum followed by free time. I found a doggy boutique and got Wyatt his very own German squeaky toy.

The night ended with more German food. I had the weinerschniztel and some fried apples for dessert.

October 20, 2009

I actually got to sleep in until about 8am today. That’s a pretty big deal. Once again I had to pack my things and move. We met at the train station around 11am and caught the 11:30am train to Nuremberg. We met our contacts at the station and headed to our second hotel. Unfortunately, it is in the suburbs. I’m rooming with Dena.

From the hotel we headed back to town and met a couple of artists and toured their studio. Next was a mini walking tour of the old town.

We walked up to the castle and amazingly got to enter one of the towers, which is also one of the artists’ studios.

On the top level we had drinks and dinner.

After dinner we had a Spanish guitar performance. We ended the evening by viewing a lithograph demonstration.

October 19, 2009

Today was supposed to be a vocational day. I was off to a good start by heading to the Historisches Museum with Dena and Ryan. We met with the museum director, the archeology curator and the modern art curator… but no event planner. It turns out the only events they do are in the café and these events are handled by the café. Oh well. Anyway, I got a nice private tour of the museum.

After that, we headed to our new Italian restaurant, L’Osteria for lunch. I spent the rest of the day browsing shops and I even found some new Pez! Later I met up with Dena at the German department store, Kauhof. We discovered a rooftop café and had some great views of the city and the cathedral. From there we met up with the group at a French restaurant. So far, Regensburg gets the award for the best food.

Catching up… October 9, 10, 11 and 15, 2009

So it turns out I was without regular internet access for almost a week. As a result, my updates just haven’t been possible. Here is what you have missed, as best as I can recall.
On Friday, October 9th we finally got some freedom to make some decisions about how to spend our day. I went to the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. I especially enjoyed a special exhibit they had called 60/40/20.

Kunst in Leipzig seit 1949. I also met up with Ryan and Dena there, and we headed to the St. Thomas Church to look at the Peace Window. While I enjoyed David Schnell’s winning design, I think Ryan’s window design that came in 2nd place was much more appropriate.

After a not so tasty lunch (I somehow ordered egg soup), I finally made it to the shopping district and enjoyed spending time in H&M and other great European shops. Later that night, we met up with Julia and Matthias, Thomas and his family, and Alicia and participated in the Leipzig Light Festival which commemorated the 20 year anniversary of the peaceful revolution of 1989 which lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall a month later. It was really great to be a part of that experience.

On Saturday, October 10th, we started the day off with the Leipzig Peace Conference. After that Ryan, Dena, and I headed to the Spinnerei, which is a warehouse district full of art galleries. It was a really great area.

After a few hours there we went to the St. Nicholas church and happened to show up ten minutes prior to the start of an organ performance, which was really enjoyable.

From there we headed to the Rotary gala. We did our presentation there for the first time and it went over very well. That night I had to pack my bags for our departure the next day.

On Sunday, October 11th, we started the morning with church at the St. Thomas, which was followed by a reception and a speech by a historian on the Peaceful Revolution. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to our wonderful Leipzig host families and headed to Radebeul. In Radebeul, we had a very different housing arrangement. This time, four of us were at one house and the other two were at another house. Our hosts in Radebeul were Frank and Rina. They had a beautiful home and made us feel very welcome.

October 12-14 to come as well as photos…



10/15/09

Today it was snowing when I woke up. The temperature has really dropped and an early winter has arrived. Once again I packed up my belongings and said goodbye to another amazing host family. After just barely fitting all our luggage and us into the minivan, we headed to Holger’s body shop business for a quick tour. He also got us a luggage rack box to make some space in the van and put on snow tires. On the way we made a stop in Frieburg for a silver mining tour and then headed to the Auerbach area. Unfortunately the delay from the snow resulted in us missing a tour of the art galleries in the area. We were lucky enough to check into a hotel for tonight. When I heard we were staying at a “guest lodge” I was picturing the worst. I pictured the six of us in bunk beds in one room. Luckily, it is a regular hotel and we each have very own room!

After briefly getting settled, we headed to a wood furniture maker called Die Möbelmacher. They had beautiful wood furniture made from local wood. After the tour we went to the owner’s home for dinner. It was fish and quiche, so I had salad and rice. I got back to the hotel at a reasonable time, but here I am again at midnight hardly keeping my eyes open. This time the problem was that I purchased wireless internet access, but it doesn’t work. I spent a good bit of time trying to figure out was the problem was. Dena couldn’t access it either and of course there was nobody at the front desk. Oh well. Off to bed I go…

A Chocolate Miracle - October 8, 2009

Today we had another early start.  I took the tram to the main train station and found my way to our meeting point all by myself.  It almost felt like I was a local.  Our first stop was a tour by the museum director of the City-historical museum of Leipzig.  The exhibition we saw was Saxony and the Enlightenment of the World which featured the history of Leipzig and the University of Leipzig.  From there we went to the Monument of the Battle of Nations.  We had a VERY detailed tour of the museum and then headed into the monument.  It had become very windy and cold, so our time from the top of the monument was rather brief.  It provided a nice view of the city though.  My favorite view was of the trees with the crematorium and the communist GDR apartment block to the right and the power plant in the background. 

The next stop was the highlight of the day, and that was the Halloren chocolate factory tour.  The low point was when I had to wear my blazer since we were being filmed.  (I was definitely pouting for a good 10 minutes.)  The tour started with a history of chocolate and the factory.  Then we got a bird's eye view of the production line.  The tour ended with a sampling of different chocolates.  Since the factory is in an area known for salt mining, I wondered if they made a chocolate with salt.  Lucky for me, Dena asked and they said they did.  As a result, she and I got to try it and it was really great.  I also sampled an orange chocolate and a hot pepper chocolate. 

We ended the day with a driving tour of Leipzig despite our request for a walking tour.  When we were finally released from the van, we walked a little to the Rotary meeting for the night and had dinner there as well.  I ended the day with a pleasant chat with my hosts, who have been extremely hospitable and fun.

P.S.  It is almost impossible to get still mineral water here.  Even with our best efforts, the majority of the time we find ourselves with a bottle of unrefreshing sparkling water.

October 5-7, 2009

Monday we started our day with a private tour of the primate section of the Leipzig Zoo. It is both a zoo and a research center. We saw chimps, orangutans, gorillas, and more. From there we went to the Max Planck Research Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. We saw their ability to take digital images of bones and then print a 3D model of them. That night we went to a Rotary Club meeting and had dinner with the members.

Tuesday we were up early to catch a train to Dresden. The day started with some drizzle, but it cleared up by the afternoon. We walked through the pedestrian shopping area. My eyes were huge as we passed H&M, Lush, Accessorize, New Yorker, Mango, and more. It finally felt like I was in Europe. Unfortunately, we just kept walking. After being taunted by those delights, we went on a private tour of the Green Vault, which contains the largest treasures of Europe and is in part of the Dresden castle. My favorite room was the Jewel room and I also liked the 41 carat green diamond. From there we had a traditional Saxon lunch, but I didn’t particularly care for it. Next we went to the Church of Our Lady, which was reopened a few years ago. Dresden suffered major damage from bombings in WWII. While the church wasn’t hit, it caught fire and collapsed the day after the bombing. Everything has been restored as accurately as possible. Next we climbed to the dome for a great view of the city.

After that we did a walking tour of the city which included strolling along the River Elbe, viewing the mosaic of the Saxon sovereigns, the Zwinger Palace gardens, and the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony.

After a full day in Dresden, we took the train back to Leipzig. From the train station, my host Julia, Dena and her host Thomas, and Ryan and his host went for drinks but ended up having dinner and drinks. We headed home around 11pm.

Today we left Leipzig again and headed by van to a small town called Riesa. Our first stop was the mayor's office at the Riesa Rathaus. We met the mayor and a possible nun impersonator gave us a tour of the former monastery, which is now the mayor’s office. She also presented us with a gift. Next we went to the Riesa noodle factory and started with lunch. I had spaghetti bolognese. It was good. The noodles were made there and the sauce was the yummy European kind with more meat than sauce. Dena got spaetzle and cheese with bacon. I wish I had gotten that but after yesterday's food fiasco, I was nervous. I tried a bite and it was really good. They had all sorts of different shaped pasta for sale including dinosaurs. Next we went on a tour of the factory. We had to wear funny hats and cover-ups. It was hot in there and it was actually a pretty warm day today so we kind of wanted them to wrap things up sooner than they did.

Next we went to an orchestra and listened to their rehearsal. Just before leaving, we stopped to see a tall iron sculpture of an oak trunk, named "Elbquelle", by Jörg Immendorff.

Once we got back to Leipzig we were taken to the Porsche factory for a private tour. We got there about 7pm and weren’t even expecting to go. This was the highlight of the day for me. Not only was it great seeing a luxury car assembled, but also it was interesting to see a car in all its different pieces being put together. Of course they had it down to a very efficient science. They had Cayennes and a new model called Panemera. I understand that they were producing the first cars ready to be sold in America. It's a four-door sports car. They said the new hot color is various shades of brown and the next hot color will be blue. I personally liked the GT silver. They also have a showroom where they do events, so I got the information about that. There is also an onsite racetrack and off road area where you can drive your car if you pick it up there to check out the performance. Of course they also do their testing there too including various types of road conditions to see how the car performs. We just got home from a day that started at 8:30am and now it's 11:30pm. This is what every day is like, so I'm super sleepy.