Germany

Though I only spent five days in Germany (and one of them mostly on a train) I managed to see many different places! 

I stayed with Dirk, a friend from UMass, for my first two nights in Germany. In this short time we managed to go to Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Frankenstein’s Castle and Heidelberg. 

Frankfurt-- we only spent a few hours there, but I quite liked it. I don’t think there is a huge amount to do in Frankfurt, so a few hours sufficed. Dirk filled me in on all the important historical and contemporary facts. We visited the building where the German government began, and a gorgeous church called the Dom. My favourite area was the riverfront, which is just gorgeous. I also like the traditional-looking German buildings- though Dirk informed me that most of it was fairly new because the majority of the city was ruined during WW2. 

Church in Darmstadt

Darmstadt-- this is the closest city to where Dirk lives, and also where he went to university (and where Karsten- my next host- goes to university). It’s only about 20 minutes outside of Frankfurt and though not a very big city, it’s really nice. Dirk gave me a tour of all the important sites. Most of them not very historically important.. Just pretty! One of the coolest places was a church which from the outside looked like a huge dome. Inside it was really colourful and if you stood right at the centre there was a huge echo, which you could also only hear from that spot. 

Frankenstein’s Castle-- this is located somewhere between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. All of the mountains seem to have castles on top, some of them in better conditions than others. This one gives a particularly good view of the surrounding area- including both Darmstadt and Frankfurt (there is another mountain in the way of Heidelberg). 

Heidelberg, I love you!

Heidelberg-- I went to Heidelberg very briefly a few years ago. Though I didn’t see much that time I remember it being a really gorgeous town. The main street was just as I remembered it, except perhaps a few extra tourist shops! We went up to the Heidelberg Castle (up a small mountain)- which I only saw from street view last time. It’s really gorgeous and inside there was a huuuge barrel which holds something like 200,000L of wine! The view is incredible, of the river and the town. Such a beautiful place, I love it.

While I was with Dirk we also ate a lot of really good German food! Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Spaetzle (German pasta), Rouladen (bacon and pickle wrapped in meat) and some sort of potato cake which Dirk tried to convince me is German..tasted exactly like what we get at fish ‘n’ chip shops at home! However, I did really enjoy all the German foods I tried!

My last two nights in Germany I spent with Karsten- another friend from UMass! He lives in a small village in a bit further north of Dirk, called Riesenbeck. On the first night we drove into Munster, a city that was less than half an hour’s drive away, to meet some of Karsten’s friends. I got to know the area when one of Karsten's friends gave me a quick tour of the city - in the dark. There was a palace, and church! Seemed like a nice city. Before heading home, Karsten informed me that I had to try a Doner Kebab; “typical German late-night-food”! It’s essentially like a regular kebab but in a bread roll. Preeetttty good. 

The next day Karsten cooked Goulash for lunch. YUUUUM. He then took me to all the important places in Riesenbeck. Firstly there was a viewpoint, where you can allegedly see all of Munsterland, except the weather wasn’t great so you couldn’t see all that much! Then we went to a huge mansion where an aristocrat lives. Beautiful. And finally we went by the fire station (significant because Karsten is a volunteer firefighter). In the evening we went out for dinner with a bunch of the other volunteer firefighters to a Greek restaurant for “traditional German food” (of course, what else would you get at a Greek restaraunt?!). 

Afterwards, we went to a club called Aura. It was absolutely huge! There was a big entrance-room leading to four different dance floors, each one playing different types of music; house, rap, old school, and current popular music. They even had a snack bar within the club! Awesome venue! Great night!

Today I’m headed back to London for a few days before I *hopefully* head to India...provided that I get my visa!