Freiburg, Triberg, and the Quest for the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock

Hello family and friends! I just returned from what is likely my last "excursion" in Europe as the semester is wrapping up and exams are beginning (they have exams here?). I traveled down through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) for a weekend of hiking with 2 UNC friends, Jayson and Alex, and Jayson's Italian girlfriend, Benny.

We couchsurfed with a fun, young, hippie mom and her 18-month-old daughter in Freiburg for 2 days, before passing back through Triberg (literally means the "intersection of 3 mountains") which is deeper into the "real Black Forest."

Much like the descriptions, the Black Forest is dark, cold, and well...black. We spent our hikes on a constant search for Hansel and Gretel (or at least Little Red Riding Hood...come on, we can't be greedy), but to no avail. Instead, our hikes were filled with lunches in old castle ruins, the "baaaa-ing" and "moooo-ing" of many mountain animals, and many, many delicious red and black cherries which were growing wildly throughout the mountains.

As my last blog may have set a record for the world's longest blog ever, I'm keeping this one short.

Miss you and love you all. I'll be home in less than 4 weeks!

Lizzie

We climbed to the top of a tower on the highest peak in Freiburg, which gave a beautiful view of the city.

Our cool, vegan, hippie hostmom, Bente, and her 18-month-old daughter, Ayla. She was adorable (and a good long-distance walker). I just about lost it.

Hiking with the crew: Benny (Italy), Alex, and Jayson (both UNC).


We put our men to work in the black cherry trees. I'm surprised we didn't make ourselves sick given how many we ate.

Freiburg is also surrounded by gorgeous vineyards on the bases of the mountains.


Arrival in Triberg, an adorable "super-Schwarzwald" town.


We had Black Forest cake in the oldest confectionary in Triberg. We even met the owner and head chef. Great times.

True Schwarzwald. Unfortunately, my camera has this amazing "light-capturing ability" that makes everything look 100-times brighter than they were. This was actually quite dark.

Overlooking more Schwarzwald before we ran through the hills singing the Sound of Music soundtrack.

LARGEST CUCKOO CLOCK IN THE WORLD. Be jealous. This should have taken us about 20 minutes to find, but owing to a few sets of bad directions and some overall bad luck, it took us about 2 hours to find. If you're wondering, the feeling when you finally find the world's largest cuckoo clock is about as exciting as the first time you convinced your parents to finally stop at South of the Border on your way to Florida.

On another note, Ryan is a good boy and sent me flowers this week. They're pretty. :)

Love you all!

Munich and Dachau

Hello again! As last Thursday was a holiday (gotta love those German holidays), I traveled to Munich and Dachau last weekend with a few good Heidelbergean friends. I'm going to separate these two places into separate blogs, however, as their natures and tones were so drastically different. I'll start with Munich!

Munich was....everything I had hoped and more. The city is alive with a vibrant energy, but is much smaller than Berlin, Paris, or Amsterdam, offering a quainter atmosphere.

The weather gods blessed us with a beautiful weekend, which made the beer gardens on every corner ever more enjoyable. I was surprised that this "Munich = beer" stereotype was truer than I had expected. While many of the bars and beer gardens are designed purely for tourists, our couchsurfing hosts assured us that the locals enjoy them too. As an older German gentleman in his 60s once told me, "Es ist nie zu früh zu trinken, und selten zu spät," meaning, "it is never too early to drink, and seldom too late." All I can say is, "oh, stereotypes"...

Still, Munich was so much more than liter-beer and half-meter bratwurst (they seriously make this). Luckily for us, the weekend we arrived was Munich's 841st birthday--a claim that few cities can boast. This meant live music, dancing, and food and craft fairs throughout the city center. We enjoyed these immensely (especially the fresh strawberries that have just come into season), as well as the stunning cathedrals, palaces, and modern art museums.

Though we split up in pairs to couchsurf, this was my full travel group. Right to left: Deborah (Arizona State), her boyfriend Wylie (visiting from the US), Sean (UNC), Alex (UNC), and Alice (U of Kentucky).

The beer gardens were beautiful...

A local favorite of our couchsurfing hosts in the English Gardens.

Our couchsurfing hosts, Tommy, Saskia, and Christian.

The Hofbräuhaus...a stereotypical tourist stop, but a great place to visit once.

Sean and I.

Freak chance encounter in Europe #2: After randomly running into a friend in Paris, I ran into my old sophomore-year Resident Advisor from UNC, Samantha Alvarez, in the Hofbräuhaus. The world is entirely too small...

The old Rathaus (house of government) in the city center.

The Asamkirche (Asams' Church). It's tiny inside, but so ornate it's completely overwhelming.

Schloss Nymphenburg (meaning "abode of the nymphs"), where Ludwig II was born. If you remember Neuschwanstein Castle from a previous post, this is the same guy. He certainly had a taste for fine things...

Inside the palace. Parts of it are open to tourists, but much of it is still in use by the government, and the "royal family" of sorts still lives in one of the wings.

Overall, Munich was beautiful and my travel group couldn't have been easier to get along with. What can I say...I love Munich!

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Note: This is long. Feel free to skip it if you're dying of boredom.

On Friday morning, we took a guided tour of Dachau concentration camp, which is just outside Munich. Our guide, Matt, was an American college grad whose specialty is the Third Reich. His professionalism and the quality of his tour were both outstanding, and I was thrilled to have had him as a guide.

I hesitate to even blog about Dachau however, because to a certain degree, I think that it trivializes this horrifically tragic event in history and those who died in the camp. Touring Dachau brought back a lot of memories from an experience I had in Thailand, however, where I toured a Buddhist temple in the mountains that was a refuge and hospital for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. I'd like to keep this story short, but it needs a little explaining...

Though Thailand is very sexually progressive compared to the western world, AIDS is still very taboo and is often simply not discussed. Thus, this temple was designed for those who had been shunned by their families or had lost the ability to provide for themselves because of their illness. While it was a beautiful place representing a pureness of heart rarely seen, it was also one of the most shocking experiences of my life. In an attempt to convey the full effects of AIDS on the human body, as well as the magnitude of the problems resulting from AIDS rejection in Thailand, the temple created a very controversial exhibition. Inside its "Life Museum" were the fresh corpses of children, pregnant women, and adults who had died of AIDS at the temple and had given their bodies as a memorial. Further on, there were jars of body parts (hands, eyes, organs) from those who had died of AIDS. Even further, we visited the highest-level hospital, where patients on the brink of life were housed. And lastly, we visited the crematorium and saw a memorial for the ashes of those who had died in the temple... Thousands of bags of ashes laid around a statue of Buddha, all of which were bodies that had been rejected by their families, as AIDS is so taboo in Thailand that many families didn't want anything to do with their loved ones, even after they were dead.

Never in my life had I seen such raw pain and suffering in person, and, though this may sound cliche, it was life-altering. It shook me to the core. Since this experience however, I have gained such a new respect for life and acceptance, and the ability of mankind to draw together in times of need.

I also learned something from this experience that draws me back to Dachau. In Thailand, I was so jolted--so upset by what I saw--that I didn't take pictures and I didn't talk about it until much later. I thought it was too trivial--too unfair to those who lived in the temple. Upon retrospect however, when I realized just how big of an impact this event had had on me, I regretted not taking pictures and not saying more, because the world deserves to see what I saw. Thus, with respect for the dead and the best sense of humility someone in my generation (the post-WWII-trauma generation) could find, I took pictures and wish to tell this story because you deserve to see what I saw:

Dachau was the first and "model" concentration camp. SS members and later Reich leaders were trained here. It was built in the early 1930s and went through 3 phases: (1) purely political prisoners (before WWII started), (2) random arrests of civilians and use of prisoner's as slave labor for the war cause (1939-1943), and (3) erratic murder and most horrific living conditions as the pressure to produce more war goods increased (1943-liberation). By the end of the war, more than 200,000 people from 30 countries were believed to have been housed in Dachau.

The history of the camp does not end in 1945, however. Following liberation, the camp served as US Army headquarters for a number of years and as a refugee camp for Germans until 1965. Today, the original barracks have been destroyed however, and the camp serves only as a memorial. It's quiet and bleak.

Entry to the camp: "Arbeit mach frei" or "work makes you free." As we all know however, the work never set anyone free. Prisoners died from the work and died if they refused. This was just one of 1,000 ways to dehumanize prisoners...

Classification system for prisoners...everyone was the same when they entered, but the guards did their best to separate prisoners by gender, ethnicity, or other classifications in order to turn prisoners against one another and prevent revolt. Though Auschwitz was the only camp to tattoo numbers onto the prisoners, Dachau used the number system too. In addition, every colored triangle denoted something different. Red (political "enemies of the state"), green (criminals), blue (foreigners), pink (homosexuals and sexual offenders), purple (Jehovah's Witnesses), brown (gypsies), black ("asocial elements," such as the mentally impared, alcoholics, bums, etc...)

Other classifications were also added, such as tabs above the triangles, which listed the number of times one had been internned, or a gold star, which marked Jews.

The prison within the prison. "High-profile prisoners" or those being punished for other arbitrary offenses were placed here in locker-sized cells with no food, water, or light for days on end. The halls were painted green after liberation, when the US Army used these rooms as offices. I can't imagine trying to get work done in a place like this...

Gas chamber. Technically, there is no "proof" (or paper trail) that this room was ever used. Dachau, by definition, was a forced-labor camp, not an extermination camp like Auschwitz. Still, there is a letter written from the main doctor at Dachau to Heinrich Rimmler stating that the chambers were "fulling functioning" and requesting permission to use them in mass. This permission was never granted for unknown reasons (which certainly did not include sympathy), but it is believed that they likely were used for medical experimentation or small-scale use.

Crematorium, which was certainly used, as more than 35,000 people died in Dachau and its surrounding subcamps.

Memorial outside Barrack X (which housed the gas chamber and crematorium). It reads "Den Toten zur Ehr; Den Lebenden zur Mahnung" or "To honor the dead; to warn the living."

Berlin and the Spreewald

Hellooooo again! Sorry for my long leave of absence.

This past weekend, I was in Berlin and Straupitz (part of the Spreewald, southeast of Berlin) for 5 days with Kristin, a German friend of mine. I met Kristin during my sophomore year of college when she was working as an Au pair for an American family in Chapel Hill. Her family put her in the Episcopal Campus Ministry group to help her meet friends her age, and we hit it off from the beginning. Never in a million years did I actually think that I'd get to meet her family in Germany!

My journey began with a not-so-intellegent discount ticket purchase on a train that left at 2:00am from Heidelberg. What I didn't realize however, was that I then had a 2-hour layover in Frankfurt Main from 3-5:00am (alone, in the dark). It was actually quite safe, however, and I was very relieved when the glorious Golden Arches lit up at 4am and I was able to go get hot food.

During the first two days, I stayed with Kristin's boyfriend, Manuel, who lives in Berlin. I toured Berlin "turbo-style" and was a bit dazed by the end of it, but I absolutely loved it. Dazzling, huge, and a nice change from the oh-so-quaint small town of Heidelberg, I think I could really get into living there.

The next three days I spent with Kristin's family in Straupitz. Straupitz is a teeny-tiny town in the Spreewald (population = ~1,000), where just about everyone knows everyone. On my first night there, one of the couples in town celebrated their 25th Anniversary at the local Gaststätte (guesthouse/bar/restaurant). It was a huge celebration in which many took part, including the local men's choir, a women's traditional German dancing group, the local volunteer fire department, the mayor, and more. There was a huge German buffet and lots of fun.

The next several days were filled with lots of touring of the German countryside. Kristin's mom is an insanely good cook, but she also fed me like her 250lbs, "block-o-muscle" husband. Remember the movie My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding where the mother was always saying "eeeeat, eeeat, you're too skinny?" I've met the German version of this woman. She lives in Straupitz. Call her up if you ever need to put on 15lbs (but want to enjoy every minute of it).

The next few days followed with more fun, including many tastings of the famous Spreewald pickles, celebrating Kindertag (Children's Day in Germany, which is still fun at 21), and meeting Kristin's wonderful grandparents (who told me to "give Obama our greetings").

I'll end things here, as I've also included about 200 photos, but I can't say enough about Kristin's wonderfully generous family and friends. I am truly blessed to know such terrific people.

Please enjoy.

Lizzie

Brandenburg Gate dividing Berlin. If you look at the red arrow in the bottom left corner of the picture, you can see a brick path that shows where the wall once stood.

Sections of the wall still stand throughout the city as a memorial. This one is one of the largest memorials in Potsdamer Platz.

Checkpoint Charlie.

The longest, existing part of the wall (only visible from the east side) has been terribly abused, as tourists have scribbled their names and dates across the original art...

...thus, much of the wall is currently under renovation. The state has tracked down most of the original artists and is having them repaint their original works. Here is one of the recreations...it reads "Moscow" (picture of wall), "China" (wall), "everywhere" (wall), "Berlin" (wall). I personally like the kangaroo in the rocking chair...

My adorable hosts, Kristin and Manuel.

A forum going on at the university, titled "Wir mussen reden" or "we must talk." The divided halves of the brain represent the divided Berlin, which still struggles to find a cultural and political identity.

We found cannabis ice tea (that's what they make weed from, mom) and had to try it. Cannabis is illegal in Germany however, which begs the question, "What exactly is in this?".

The Berliner Dom...a stunningly gorgeous cathedral in the heart of the city, but very different from many of the classic old churches in Europe, as it wasn't built until the turn of the 20th Century.

Interior of the dome.

We climbed to the top! Here, the famous TV tower stands behind us. It can be seen from most places in the city.

View of the city from dome.

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtnis Kirche (memorial church). Completely destroyed during WWII, the remains still stand as a reminder of the tragedy of war. The two (really ugly) buildings to the left and right are newer additions to the church built after the war.

Photo of an old mosaic on the church ceiling: one of the only remaining parts of the interior.

I kid you not, you can buy "Berliner Luft" (Berlin air) in the souvenier shops. Price of air = 4,50€.

Standing before the Charlotten Palace, which is actually where Kristin's boyfriend, Manuel, works as a tourist manager of some sort.

One of my favorite pictures of this trip!! I love how the bird flew in the shot.

International food/craft festival in Berlin. We were only here for an hour, but it was enough time to down a curry chicken dish from Trinidad and Tobago, and a good ol' bratwurst.

After leaving Berlin, we went to Straupitz, Kristin's hometown in the Spreewald. During the 25th anniversary party of one of the couples in town, she and her mother danced in traditional German garb. Check out the video at the bottom for more.

Local, handicraft store inside a cultural museum that demonstrated life in the village during the late 1800s. I may have picked up a special something for one of you at home...

Just before I arrived, my host family's cat had 3 KITTENS!!!! As most of you know, I am a total cat freak (I will be the old lady with 29 cats), so I spent a lot of time with these 5-week-old lovebugs.

Kristin's mom is a goddess of the kitchen (translation = great cook).

Traditional German cuisine for lunch. The basic style of a German meal, as I've learned, is that if there's anything edible in the refrigerator, then you should put it on the table. Thus, there's not really a "main dish," but rather a large assortment of deliciousness.

The "Venice of Germany." I know, it's a bit of a stretch, but work with me here. Within the Spreewald, there are a series of shallow rivers that run through the region, much like in Venice. These have become very popular among the tourists because of their natural beauty, and you can now travel through them via gondola, canoe, kayak, or your birthday suit. We took a gondola. :)

My wonderfully generous hosts again, Kristin and Manuel.

Kristin's mom and her little brother, Kai (age 13).

On one of our last nights in Straupitz, we attended an outdoor theater show dramatizing some of the folk stories from the Spreewald. This is a great idea in theory, but as it was in northern Germany (where is rains 24/7 in every month but July), I don't know what they were thinking. We sat in the rain, dressed to join the cast of the Perfect Storm, for 2 hours before the rain finally subsided and the play began. It was a strange combination of pyrotechnics, great acting, really cool costumes, and incomprehensible, childish humor (including a song titled "Alexander Salamander" to the tune of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean...just replace Billie Jean with the previous words). Needless to say, my soaking wet behind and confused head were in desperate need of a hot shower when we got back.

I'm also working on posting a video of the German dancing, but am having major problems due to the size. I'll post it in a new blog if I can get it to work.

:)