Winter Vacation

The week leading up to Ryan’s arrival should have been quite eventful. In addition to my usual classes and new club, a language competition took place on Wednesday and a school-wide sport marathon was planned for Thursday. However, I ended up spending quite a bit of time in bed drinking tea. The teachers sent me home on Tuesday since I was obviously sick. While I helped supervise during the English competition on Wednesday, I was given a list of four things to cure me and allowed to stay home Thursday.

While Germans are often highly regarded in the sciences, the culture has kept wives tales and home cures alive. Marion, my mentor teacher, gave me a list of four things to do in order to sped on my recovery.

1.     Drink thyme tea.

2.     Cut an onion, cover it with honey, and take a spoonful of the resulting juice three times a day. (It has to sit a while before the juice from the onion is released and mixes with the honey.)

3.     Lay warm mashed potatoes wrapped in a dishcloth on my chest. The potatoes could be reheated in the microwave and therefore used several times. (I had an infrequent, but terrible cough.)

4.     Drink a hot beer just before going to bed. (Yes, that’s right. Heat a delicious German beer until it tastes like medicine.)

Me trying to see things
from Goethe's perspective.

I also made a chicken noodle soup for good measure. I can’t say for sure that any of it sped on my recovery, but it certainly didn’t hurt. I was feeling considerably better by Thursday evening.

Saturday I headed to Frankfurt on my first “car share” with a stranger. I’m using parentheses since I wasn’t actually riding in a car. We all shared a train ticket. On the weekends DeutscheBahn (the German train company) has a deal in which up to five passengers can ride on one 44 Euro ticket. You must use the slower trains, but if you have the time it can save a considerable amount of money. My trip from Zwickau to Frankfurt cost me less than 10 Euros.

Ryan didn’t arrive until Sunday morning so I spent the afternoon leisurely pursuing and photographing Goethe’s childhood home and the attached art gallery. It was one of the more interesting galleries I’ve been to, not because the portraits were so exquisite but because next to most portraits a plaque explained his/her relationship or connection to Goethe. It was like looking through someone’s photo album.

The more time passed, the more anxiously I awaited Ryan’s arrival. When my roommates at the hostel began preparing for their departures at 4 in the morning, I soon relinquished any hope of sleep. Since Ryan’s flight was ahead of schedule, I got ready and slowly walked to the airport where I continued to wait. For an hour and a half after his scheduled arrival time, I waited anxiously to see him walk through the baggage claim doors.

Tired train ride back to Zwickau.

We had a rather long train ride back to Zwickau and Ryan was already tired from his flight, but he managed to stay awake until the evening, and it made all the difference. He had almost no trouble with jet lag while he was here.

We’d planned to go to Berlin with Tina early Tuesday morning, but things didn’t go exactly as planned. Monday night we went over to Tina’s to play a few games and headed home a little after ten. I searched in vain for my keys as Ryan danced around the entrance hall. He really had to go to the bathroom. It soon became apparent that I’d locked myself out of my apartment and we headed back. Tina helped me by calling a few locksmiths, but with no fixed rate and an estimate of more than 200 Euros I decided to wait until the morning. At the very least the locksmith would have been a little cheaper during regular business hours. Tina and Sofia were kind enough to put us up for the night and generously offered us breakfast and coffee in the morning. Fortunately, the lawyer’s office in my building had a spare key, and I was able to reenter my apartment at no cost.

 

Us and the Wall.

My absentmindedness did come at a cost, though. We essentially missed our first day in Berlin. Instead of arriving a little after noon, we didn’t come in until the evening. In the end Ryan is probably rather grateful. He enjoyed seeing Berlin, especially the remains of the Berlin Wall and one of the most delicious chocolate shops we’ve ever been to. Yet, he also realized that lifting weights and running a few miles several times a week does not prepare you for the endless walking involved in European travel, especially with two indecisive girls who enjoy walking around to experience the city.

We spent Friday recuperating, and then headed out for a day of hiking in the Sächsische Schweitz. Tina’s brother came to visit so we all drove over in his car. It was a beautiful day for hiking. We enjoyed ourselves very much, despite getting a bit lost. At one point we were trying to find a trail and followed little black triangles. We gave up in frustration and headed in another direction. It wasn’t until a few hours later that we discovered what they meant: Danger! Not a hiking trail.

 

Ryan and a chocolate replica of the Reichstag, which we also saw in real life.

Showing off GDR technology at the GDR Museum.

Sunday morning we headed to Munich and had a wonderful time. We walked around to see the main sights in town and spent a considerable amount of time at the science museum there. We also ran into a kind older gentleman, who pointed us in the right direction after giving us a short tour of a church along the way. He mostly wanted to show us the bones of a martyr. I know that sounds creepy but he really wasn’t.

 Treadmills were originally used as a power source. I thought I'd solve two of America's problems: obesity and renewable energy by bringing them back...but Ryan tells me science will not cooperate.
We use for too much power these days. 

Little flowers peaking out along the Philosopher's Way.

Heidelberg was my favorite spot. Even the rain shower we arrived in couldn’t hide the charm of this ancient college town. Heidelberg University is the oldest university in Germany founded in 1386. On our second day the weather became more sunny and spring like as the day progressed. After breakfast we took a walk along the Philosopher’s Way before heading up to the castle. We had a wonderful tour guide and only two other Americans on our tour. The remains of the theater in which Shakespeare first premiered The Tempest, written for Elizabeth’s marriage to Frederick, the Elector of the Rhineland Palatinate, can still be seen. 

Fun fact. According to our guide, the book cover seen in the above case has a nail bulging out at each corner in order to protect the book from the copious amounts of beer students like to consume while studying. All of the books in the Heidelberg library had such covers until they were stollen by the Pope hundreds of years ago. They can still be found in the Vatican today.

As far as Frankfurt goes, I can only say we were glad we didn’t spend a lot of time there. Ryan and I parted late Saturday morning. Now (as of March 4) I have to wait 122 days for another hug. At least I can see his face when we talk on Skype.

Unfortunately I caught another cold and felt the symptoms begin almost immediately after we parted ways. I will be very glad to be healthy again.

The view atop the roof of the Heidelberg Castle.