Jenny's Eurotrip: Danke! - My trip to Bavaria to see Julia!

"Danke" means thank you in German, and was pretty much the only German word I could say properly in Germany this past weekend (although Julia was a very good teacher and I learned a few other words!) After a long and stressful week of final exams and final projects, last Thursday night I left for Nuremberg, Germany. I had my contemporary british theatre class and left from the class to catch the tube to Liverpool Street station where I took a Stansted Express train to London-Stansted Airport. This whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. The Stansted airport was actually very nice I thought. It is much smaller than Heathrow and easy to navigate as well. There were barely any lines and since I had checked in online a head of time I wasn't as stressed. I flew on AirBerlin which I was very happy with too. Usually I get assigned a seat at the very rear of the plane; however, this time on the way to Germany I was in the 4th row and on the way back I was in the 2nd row. Therefore I got my food (twix bars) and drink (waters) right away and was able to get off the plane sooner! The only thing that was kind of weird was on the flight back, we had to take a shuttle bus from our gate our to the plane which was located in the middle of the runway area with a staircase going up to the plane. It was like when the president climbs into Air Force One and ascends the stairs. Weird! Anyway, the plane ride was about an hour and a half and Julia met me right after I got out of the baggage claim. We took a subway from the airport and then a train to the town she is living in while going to college, Bayreuth. Her apartment was just a street or two down from the train station and we went to bed pretty quickly- we were tired!

Friday we went to Munich! We took a train (we took a whole lot of trains over the weekend) to Munich and it took about 5 hours to get there. During the day, we went to Marienplatz, the town square; Hofbrauhaus, a famous beer house; the Royal Gardens and palace; the Women's Church; and the Olympia Park, where the 1972 Munich Olympics were held. I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic stadium and the swimming hall, and we even went up into the Olympic Tower which had some really nice views of the city! At 5 pm we went back to Marienplatz to hear the bells from the City Hall. There are also figurines in the tower of the City Hall that dance when the bells chime which was cool. For dinner we went to a really good German restaurant called Donisl. I had a potato dumpling, bread dumpling and roasted pork- it was delicious! I also tried a Radler which is half lemonade and half beer. It was refreshing!

We finished up in Munich and took a couple hour train ride to Passau, where Julia's Mom's boyfriend, Albert, picked us up and drove us to her home in Waldkirchen. It was really nice to be driving in a car for the first time since I got to London! When we got to her house, I met her Mom, who is so nice! I wasn't able to communicate with her too well because she doesn't speak much english and I don't speak much German but Julia translated for us. Her Mom had made a really delicious cheesecake and opened a bottle of wine, and we sat and talked for a while. It was nice and in the morning (Saturday) we had a full German breakfast with sausages, and German bread (including a Bavarian pretzel!) I really like German food!

Now I must make the distinction- I am saying "German" this and "German" that but really I was in the state of Bavaria the whole time I was in Germany. So I really enjoyed the Bavarian food and country while I was there. Bavaria was taken over by Germany a few hundred years ago but they still have a lot of pride, and I got to experience that pride too. I have a new found love for Bavaria :-)

After the breakfast, we picked up a car from a family friend and she drove us around Waldkirchen, her hometown. I was able to see her old school, the town and the department store where her Mom works. Afterward we stopped at a supermarket and I picked up a bunch of German chocolate, and we headed back to her house. We said goodbye to her Mom and then drove to Passau, the neighboring city to Waldkirchen. We were on a tight schedule because Julia had planned for us to take a ride on a boat, translated as "Crystal Boat." It was a two-hour boat cruise to Austria and the boat was decked out completely in Swarvoski Crystals (the chandeliers, stairs, statues, side of the boat..). It was a beautiful boat and I thought it would be the perfect place to have a wedding reception it was that nice! Julia and I both got Apple strudel and ice cream which was really good. It was a little cold out so we stayed inside most of the time but the top deck of the boat offered some really nice views. After the cruise, we walked around Passau and I found myself a Bier Krug (the beer mug with the cap on top). I thought it would be a nice souvenir and it even says "Bavaria" on it with the crest and flags so I can remember my time there. At night we took a very long train ride (3 different trains) back to Julia's apartment in Bayreuth, where we stayed.

Sunday morning Julia drove us to see her university in Bayreuth. She took me on a tour of her campus and showed me the law building where she has a lot of her classes. Afterwards we went to the main city area of Bayreuth to see a castle and some beautiful gardens behind it. We went to a restaurant for lunch called "Oskar" where I finally got to try some authentic Bavarian sausages, cheese-noodles and sauerkraut. Did I mention I love Bavarian food? Also, one of Julia's friends, Lisa, joined us for lunch which was very nice. After lunch we went to a Castle a little further away that was covered in beautiful colored stones, and had a maze of hedges that led you there. It was a beautiful park area with walking paths and gardens. I enjoyed being out in the country a little more.

After the park, we headed back to Julia's apartment where I picked up my luggage and we took the train to the Nuremberg airport. Overall, I had a really fun weekend visiting Julia (thank you so much again for your wonderful hospitality!) and I enjoyed touring around Bavaria. It was especially neat because I was shown places I probably wouldn't have known about since Julia is from Germany (Bavaria) and can educate me more about the area and some of the interesting places to see!

After going strong during the weekend, I was very tired once I returned. Yesterday I had my first British Culture and Visual Media class which seems interesting but more work than I expected it to be with several papers and presentations. We went to the Houses of Parliament for the first part of the day and then had class for a few hours. Then I went to Sainsbury's to pick up groceries and last night I just stayed in. Today Anna, Jess, Catey and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral where we got an audio tour. The structure outside is huge, but the inside is simply magnificent! I really enjoyed visiting there today and I ended up spending several hours there. There was a choral concert midday and there was also a half-hour Christian church service in the space at the front of the cathedral near the alter, and I went to receive communion. I hadn't been to church in a while and although it was a shorter communion service, it was nice, and pretty neat to be doing that at St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, part of the tour of the cathedral took us up to the Whispering Gallery, Stone Gallery and Golden Gallery which are three more levels up in the dome that give you great views. The Golden Gallery was located at the top of the dome, very high up! We had to take hundreds of stairs to get up there! It was worth it though.
That has pretty much been the last few days in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed the update and pictures!

P.S. GO PHILLIES! I'm tired of all of these Yankees fans telling me that the Phillies stand no chance. We have to prove them wrong- two years in a row!! Cheers!

Bayreuth