Saturday 5-31-08
Well, I guess it is about time I got some thing written down and posted. I haven't had much access to the internet until I finally found a place later last night.
Before I left Leipzig I visited the "people's battle memorial," a 30-story-high memorial built in 1913 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by the kingdoms that now make up Germany in 1813. It is all made of stone and has huge statues inside that signify sort of the spirit or dignity or origins of Germany - in a massive way. There was this strong but calm warrior-type music with men's voices playing in the background that made it kind of eerie. I got to walk the 30 stories to the top through narrow little passageways that were pretty eerie, too. This place was used by Hitler to promote the spirit of the fatherland and by the communists to promote the unity of worldwide communism. Very interesting place.
The next day I went to the smallest and cutest little town yet, Naumburg. It is lots like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which Kathy and Elise both know of, with its narrow little cobblestone streets, part of the town wall remaining, and most of the old moat that was just outside the wall, to discourage invaders. Much of it is just grassy area now.
Later that same day I went to Weimar, another one of the little towns that is big in German history for two reasons. First, it is where Germany's two most famous writers/poets are from Goethe and Shiller. Goethe is the one who wrote the story of the guy who sells his soul to the devil so that he can have all that he wants in this life. A lot of other stories in many languages have taken from that theme since then.
Weimar is also where Germany's first attempt at democracy started after WW1 in 1918, called the Weimar Republic. I found when I got there that where I was staying was about 3 miles out of town by foot in the countryside. A little bit of a hike, but a nice place. I had a good talk with the guy who runs it - about Nazism, Communist, etc. It seems like most people in "East" Germany are ready to denounce Nazism, but don't really want to talk much about life under communism. Maybe it is still too close or maybe they feel like the world is destined to some sort of socialism. I know there are a lot of people in the US who feel like that - like Obama and Hillary, for example.
I arrived in Erfurt the next day. It has a lot of the narrow little streets from medieval times, so I spent a long time just wandering around town exploring. In 90-degree heat! And high humidity! Aye aye aye! I found the monastery where Martin Luther spent a lot of his years.
The second day there, I was taking the streetcar back into the town center, since where I stayed was out a ways. There were police all over the place on the streets on my way in. There were hundreds of police cars, vans, water cannons and police. When I got to the train station, there were two rows of police, shoulder to shoulder, dressed in riot gear. The whole train station and street were blocked off. Mine was the last streetcar they let into town before they stopped them. And there were two helicopters flying around town all day long. Of course, I was wondering what was going on. Was there a bomb threat at the train station or the threat of a terrorist attack? Well, it turns out that they were all there for a soccer game! The pro team from Dusseldorf was in town to play the Erfurt team. The police were all there to prevent violence from happening! They really take their soccer seriously here in Europe! While I was there, a train of fans from the other team came and they started chanting a slogan for their team and shaking their fists. Some fans from Erfurt responded the same way. Anyway, it was a pretty interesting start to the day. I wandered around more and visited the cathedral before it started to rain. And, snice it was my birthday, I celebrated it with a doner kebab (kind of like a gyro) and good piece of German cake with chocolate frosting!
Well, I guess it is about time I got some thing written down and posted. I haven't had much access to the internet until I finally found a place later last night.
Before I left Leipzig I visited the "people's battle memorial," a 30-story-high memorial built in 1913 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by the kingdoms that now make up Germany in 1813. It is all made of stone and has huge statues inside that signify sort of the spirit or dignity or origins of Germany - in a massive way. There was this strong but calm warrior-type music with men's voices playing in the background that made it kind of eerie. I got to walk the 30 stories to the top through narrow little passageways that were pretty eerie, too. This place was used by Hitler to promote the spirit of the fatherland and by the communists to promote the unity of worldwide communism. Very interesting place.
The next day I went to the smallest and cutest little town yet, Naumburg. It is lots like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which Kathy and Elise both know of, with its narrow little cobblestone streets, part of the town wall remaining, and most of the old moat that was just outside the wall, to discourage invaders. Much of it is just grassy area now.
Later that same day I went to Weimar, another one of the little towns that is big in German history for two reasons. First, it is where Germany's two most famous writers/poets are from Goethe and Shiller. Goethe is the one who wrote the story of the guy who sells his soul to the devil so that he can have all that he wants in this life. A lot of other stories in many languages have taken from that theme since then.
Weimar is also where Germany's first attempt at democracy started after WW1 in 1918, called the Weimar Republic. I found when I got there that where I was staying was about 3 miles out of town by foot in the countryside. A little bit of a hike, but a nice place. I had a good talk with the guy who runs it - about Nazism, Communist, etc. It seems like most people in "East" Germany are ready to denounce Nazism, but don't really want to talk much about life under communism. Maybe it is still too close or maybe they feel like the world is destined to some sort of socialism. I know there are a lot of people in the US who feel like that - like Obama and Hillary, for example.
I arrived in Erfurt the next day. It has a lot of the narrow little streets from medieval times, so I spent a long time just wandering around town exploring. In 90-degree heat! And high humidity! Aye aye aye! I found the monastery where Martin Luther spent a lot of his years.
The second day there, I was taking the streetcar back into the town center, since where I stayed was out a ways. There were police all over the place on the streets on my way in. There were hundreds of police cars, vans, water cannons and police. When I got to the train station, there were two rows of police, shoulder to shoulder, dressed in riot gear. The whole train station and street were blocked off. Mine was the last streetcar they let into town before they stopped them. And there were two helicopters flying around town all day long. Of course, I was wondering what was going on. Was there a bomb threat at the train station or the threat of a terrorist attack? Well, it turns out that they were all there for a soccer game! The pro team from Dusseldorf was in town to play the Erfurt team. The police were all there to prevent violence from happening! They really take their soccer seriously here in Europe! While I was there, a train of fans from the other team came and they started chanting a slogan for their team and shaking their fists. Some fans from Erfurt responded the same way. Anyway, it was a pretty interesting start to the day. I wandered around more and visited the cathedral before it started to rain. And, snice it was my birthday, I celebrated it with a doner kebab (kind of like a gyro) and good piece of German cake with chocolate frosting!
2 comments:
Hi Pops, it sounds like you are having a good time we enjoy the updates! Your cooment about Goethe was interesting because we read that story in my class about language last semester. That is crazy about the soccer fans being so rowdy, I have heard the same thing! Also, Euro 2008 is starting this weekend which is kind of like a smaller World Cup but only for the 16 best European teams. This is played every four years and this year Germany and Spain are both participating so it should be exciting!
Hi this is Elise and Kristina just finished reading your blogs. I like the pics and the cool little gizmos....hey...did you make up that word too? Well we are enjoying Greece, especially the food! Athens is super ghetto, probably even more so than Mexico if you can believe it! See you soon! Love you lots
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