dans la région de mes ancêtres

Kind of spur of the moment, Kirsten and I decided to go to Strasbourg in France on Saturday. It was just a random decision, but how many times in your life do you have the opportunity to just up and go to France for the day? Not too many, so off we went!

It took us under three hours by train, and the ride cut through the gorgeous German country side and for a while through the Black Forest.


Strasbourg is in the Alsace région (state) of France, where my mom's mom's family comes from. It's actually a fascinating area (not to mention beautiful), because Alsace has been traded back and forth between the French and the Germans for centuries. So you can see the influence of both cultures all over the city (cf. the half-timbered houses in the above photo).


Many streets also have both French and German names. ("Little Rooster Alley")


We went to the cathedral. (rose window)


And climbed up the tower. Here you can see the market.


the cathedral


Strasbourg is very pretty.

For lunch we had delicious French food from a pâtisserie. Then we went to the Musée zoologique, which was very cool - and cheap (€1,50)! Plus the woman at the counter thought we were German when she heard me struggling with French, so she spoke to us auf Deutsch!


The museum consisted of tons of taxidermied animals. Most of them weren't dressed up like something from Narnia, but I couldn't resist this photo op. It was actually extremely interesting and well done over all. They even had two mounted coelocanths.


We also went to the European Parliament, where the EU's legislature meets.

Then I bought an oddly shaped French baguette to take back to Constance with me. (It has horns on the ends!)

And today I walked back to Insel Mainau with two friends. We could see the Alps as we crossed the bridge! I love studying abroad!

Exkursion Meersburg

I've got more photos!

I've had free time recently to doodle a little!

This one you might recognize from somewhere. Anyone? I've also painted a little, but no photos yet. Here's a shameless plug: If you haven't checked out my website yet, click here to see more of my loverly art!

On Wednesday we went to Meersburg, a small touristy town only a 15 minute ride by ferry (Autofähre) from Constance.


This photo is of Kirsten and me on the Autofähre. It was chilly on the ride. It was probably only 40°F that day. It's not a very good photo, but I know you all like seeing my smiling/grimacing face.


Here's a photo of Burg Meersburg, a somewhat redundant name. In English it would be "Castle Castle on the Sea." Here is where our tour of the ridiculous structure began. This time the German tour was led by this hilarious man. It was a blast. He teaches one of the sections of the language course. The tour itself was much better, but the subject of the tour (mainly these two castles in Meersburg) was really trashy.


So this is what I mean by "ridiculous" and "trashy." This young man was dressed up in what is apparently supposed to be garb from the Middle Ages. He was also wearing jeans, and that sword is definitely plastic.


These are skulls of very, very small deer. The Burg had skulls and animal heads all over, but they were very poorly kept up. There was also this moose head whose hide was almost completely decayed off. It was sort of disgusting.


Then there were these bizarre putti-babies with antlers for legs. (It's a chandelier, too!)


Here I am in a room with just suits of armor. And yes, that is the infamous Sir Pumpkinhead on my right.


Did I mention Meersburg is actually really pretty, tho?


This is the shoreline on the way back to the ferry. Five seconds after I took this photo, two swans swam up. Swans are all over Lake Constance.


And this one is for Teri. Not only is the region warm enough for magnolias, but also for palms. But yeah, I concede, it wasn't very warm at all during our tour of Meersburg.


And here's a photo of Germany giving the finger to political correctness.

Well, happy Easter all (or Frohe Ostern, as they say in my country)! Rolf Egenberger is coming down from Augsburg to spend the day with me in Constance this Saturday, and then I'm probably going back with him for an Egenberger family Easter celebration! He told me they're having something like a "small Oktoberfest" in Augsburg for the holiday.

So my language course is almost finished - only one week left! Next up is my tour of Germany, and then back to "real" life: The semester begins April 19! Expect another post after Easter holiday is over, and things open up again (ie, so I can use wireless).

nette Leute!

I don't really have much to say, but I do have some photos. I bought a new phone today! It was €60, but I call free anywhere in Germany for the first three months. What else? Class is fine, a little boring, but fine. I've met tons of really nice people. Germans are overall extremely nice, helpful and friendly. Right now I'm in this really fancy cafe using their Internet, because I still have none in my room. But any way, the fun part: Fotos!
PS - Anna have a blast in Japan!


sculpture in Sonnenbühl Ost


on the way to the city center (Stadtzentrum), just down the street from our dorms


that's right, Sauerkraut Juice!


another sculpture outside of the university (Spools?)


Lake Constance! This is the view from the main cafeteria (Mensa) in the University. My life is good.