Münster and Dortmund Weihnachtmärkt (Christmas Markets)- 2011

It's that time of year again...the time when the German winter starts to seep into Germans' bones, and people must find a reason to party in order to ward off depression. Time for the Weihnachtsmarkt!

The German Christmas markets were such a treat for us last year...I'd never seen anything like it. Dozens of little huts that look like traditional half-timbered houses are trucked into the pedestrian zones, and planted there for the whole month of December (seems like it starts earlier every year). The vendors in each hut then work awfully hard decorating them- stapling evergreen branches to them, hanging lights, making sure their glüwein sign is bigger than everyone else's...

Glüwein is the traditional drink of the Christmas season. It's a mulled, spiced wine that is served hot. I prefer the hot chocolate. There is also a German version of eggnog, which only I seem interested in having a non-alcoholic version of (is it really Christmas without eggnog?).

The food is the best part of these Christmas markets. Naturally there is bratwurst and a large selection of other pork foods (like always), hot soups, and the traditional decorated gingerbread hearts. My favorite are the huts that sell roasted almonds in every flavor you could think of (coconut is the best!).

Last year, a number of Bielefelders criticized the punyness of our own local weihnachtmarkt, so to broaden our horizons we branched out this year to see the two best-known Christmas markets in our state of North Rhine Westphalia- in the cities of Münster and Dortmund.

We had been to both cities before; Münster is a quaint city with beautiful old buildings pushed up next to unique, modern ones. There were huts everywhere and the crowds were very dense. Most of the markets are set up next to cathedrals, setting quite an impressive scene. Most of the huts sell the same sorts of things...food, ornaments, carved wooden trinkets...but occasionally you'll see something really odd, like boomerangs!

Dortmund is a bigger place, known for its shopping. At the center of the Weihnachtsmarkt was an enormous Christmas tree, which was really made up of hundreds of Christmas trees. There was a sign near it that said this was the largest Christmas tree in the world! The crowds here were CRAZY! It actually was a bit concerning; when you're sandwiched in between thousands of people, if suddenly there was any event that caused panic and people trying to get away, people could be trampled. They didn't seem concerned, though....just thousands of jolly Germans drinking their glüwein and forgetting the winter.

Click on this link to see the rest of our pictures!

Weihnachtsmarkts '11

Rhine in Flames Festival - St. Goar, Germany

We're festival people. Whatever subject you can think of, there is a festival for it...and nobody has more festivals than Europeans. The Rhine in Flammen (Rhine in Flames) festival is actually a series of annual festivals along the famous Rhine River in Germany. The fun starts in the city of Cologne, and moves south down the river to St. Goar, with festivities every Saturday for about a month.

We chose to catch the festival on the last Saturday, in its ending city of St. Goar, a tiny little town which undoubtedly gets most of its tourism from this festival.

We stayed in the equally tiny nearby town of Boppard, which was like staying in a German postcard, with its crooked, half-timbered buildings and castle-topped river banks.

I may have mentioned this before, but the Rhine is a pretty historically and visually awesome river. In the 12th century, Germany was made up of hundreds of sovereign parts, all ruled by individual members of royalty. These wealthy families built castles all along the Rhine River, which was (and remains today) a very important trade route. These castles levied taxes on the ships, which had to be paid in order to gain passage further down the river. One castle is actually on a sandbar in the middle of the river; it would stretch chains across the river to keep ships from passing without paying. St. Goar is located right in the middle of the stretch of the Rhine which is the most densely populated with castles...over 30 of them in just over 30 miles (60km). You can imagine how big of a problem the tax situation became! Today, though, it's a beautiful compliment to Germany's landscape.

Throughout the day, you get a sense of playful competition building between the two sides of the river. Marching bands walk through town, and the whole town is transformed into a big party. The bands try to outdo each other on each side of the river.

We managed to get in to see the castle on St. Goar's side before the festival started- Rhinefels castle. This landmark dates back to the 6th century, when a monk named Goar established a hospice here. In 1245, a fortress was built. Its worthiness as a stronghold was put to the test in 1255 when the townspeople of the Rhine formed an army and attacked because they were so sick of those darned taxes...but Rhinefels survived. The castle was much later blown to pieces by French revolutionary troops, and this area of the Rhine became French territory in 1801. The land was later given to the people of St. Goar, who rightfully own it today.

A short walk down the river takes you to Lorelei Rock, a 120 meter high rocky river bank, situated on the tip of a sharp bend in the river. This spot was made famous by German author Clemens Brentano in 1801, who tells the story of a beautiful woman with a broken heart, who sat atop the rock and enchanted sailors, who were distracted and led to their deaths in the tricky, dangerous river bend.

Essentially, the Rhine in Flames festival is a fabulous fireworks show, with a twist. Hundreds, if not thousands of tourist ferries crowd the river, all of them decorated with lights. Watching the boats is almost as beautiful as the fireworks. Fireworks are set off from barges intermingled with the boats, as well as from the two castles on opposing sides of the river, one on the St. Goar side, and the other on the St. Goarshausen side.

Finally, nightfall! By now, the river is lined with thousands of mostly local Germans, and the river is swelled to absolute capacity with colorful boats. Suddenly the sound of cannons echoes down the river. Red flares at the bases of the castles make them appear to be on fire. This isn't just a fireworks festival, it's a simulated medieval battle!

The castles take turns shooting off fireworks, as do the river barges. During the finale, all of the locations were shooting them off at once, and we were absolutely surrounded by fireworks.

This was a truly unique festival, and one to be remembered. Click on the link below to see the rest of our pictures!

Rhine in Flames

Dachau Concentration Camp - Outside Munich, Germany

While in Munich, we saw our first concentration camp. It was the first camp that the Third Reich built- finished in 1933, less than 2 months after Hitler came to power. Dachau served as the model for all of the other camps.
The sign on the gate as you enter the camp reads "arbeit macht frei", which roughly means "work sets you free". Of course, this is irony...those who worked were kept to work as slaves, and those who didn't only died quicker than those who did.

Most people think of Jews when they think about the prisoners of concentration camps. While Dachau held many Jews, noone was safe....in fact, it is estimated that about 1/3 of the prisoners were Jewish. Catholics were also arrested, along with political dissenters, scientists, and immigrants from France, Poland, Russia and Czechoslovakia. After a couple years, criminals from prisons throughout Germany were also housed in the camp.
All of the prisoners wore colored tags. The color of the tag indicated the prisoner's group- Jewish, Christian, Political dissident, Criminal, etc. The color coding was probably intended to maintain barriers between the prisoners, and to induce conflict between them to prevent unified uprisings.

It was basically impossible to escape from the camp. The areas where prisoners were allowed to walk was paved with gravel, and the outside edge of the camp was covered with grass. If a prisoner set one foot on the grass, the guards could shoot them. When the prisoners were running to roll call in the morning, the guards would sometimes grab their hat and throw it onto the grass...the person then had the option of being beaten for not being in uniform, or taking their chances stepping onto the grass.
Beyond the grass was a water canal, followed by a barbed wire fence. There was no way out.

The living quarters in this camp started out somewhat humane. Each person had a bed with a shelf. However, as the camp became more and more crowded, the bunk beds became smaller, and were stacked higher, eventually ceasing to be beds at all and becoming large stacked platforms where hundreds of people would sleep together.

Although Dachau did have gas chambers and crematory ovens, they were finished shortly before liberation and it is thought that they were never used. We toured the gas chamber, which appears to be a large shower room. Prisoners would have been told they were entering the room to shower. Interestingly, the old German word for shower, "brausebad", was replaced with a new word after the war because of its association with the gas chambers.

The Dachau camp was liberated in April of 1945. It is thought that over 200,000 prisoners had been housed in this camp, and 35,000 had died. Most died of malnutrition and disease.

This stone says "remember that we died here". It's sad to visit sites like this, but important as well. We must never naiively believe that things can never get this bad...that the holocaust was a freak accident, or that Germany was to blame, and other countries would never allow such an atrocity. Germans have told us on a few occassions that when they won the World Cup a few years ago, it was the first time people were publicly proud of being German since before the war. 60 years later, people are finally starting to display their flags again, and feel the sense of patriotism and love for their country that we as Americans sometimes take for granted. Visiting a camp like this is a reminder that freedom should be cherished above all else. Sacrificing freedoms in the name of safety always seems to benefit some and imprison others.

To see the rest of our pictures from Dachau, click this link:

Dachau

Füssen and Munich, Germany

Our trip to Füssen was our first time visiting Bavaria, and it was stunning. Bavaria is the largest German state in terms of land area, covering 20% of the country. There is a very distinct culture here, and what most of the world thinks of as being typically German is really Bavarian (like lederhosen).

The change in scenery as we travelled south through most of Germany was amazing. The buildings look different than they do in the North. Things generally look a lot older, which is likely true since many of the northern cities have been completely rebuilt since WWII. There is a lot of farmland, and the cities seemed few and far between. The churches in Bavaria have a signature style, with turret tops that look like big, ornate onions.

The town of Füssen is located only 5km away from the Austrian border. It is a small town in the foothills of the Alps, and undoubtedly gets most of its tourist traffic from people coming to see Neuschwanstein castle, like us.

We arrived in Füssen on a Thursday, and went first thing Friday morning to see the castles....a strategic decision. Cinderella's castle at Disney World was modeled after Neuschwanstein castle, and like Disney World, if you go on the weekend and/or don't go early, you WILL wait in line all day.

Although Neuschwanstein castle steals all of the attention, there are actually two castles here. The other, Hohenschwangau, was built by King Ludwig II's father, and was Ludwig's childhood home. We went to this castle first. Everyone must be part of a guided tour to go into either of the castles. We got to see the rooms where the royal family lived, and the doorways to passageways which ran through the walls of the castle, allowing servants to keep the fireplaces burning without being seen.
Rather than the inside, one of the best parts of the tour was getting to look out the windows!

Next, we climbed....and climbed, and climbed, and climbed up the mountain to Neuschwanstein. The view was even better from this castle. King Ludwig II built it, among other extravagant castles. Sadly, it was never finished. Ludwig's uncle despised his eccentric spending and had a team of doctors declare Ludwig mentally unfit to rule, without ever having an in-person examination. Ludwig's uncle took the throne, and soon after Ludwig was found drowned in a lake.

After seeing the castle, we took a trail to a bridge that spanned a really deep gorge. It took a little bit of nerve to go across it, but from the bridge was by far the best view of the castle.

We took a different route back down the mountain which followed the gorge. We passed dozens of waterfalls, and a 'swimming' area that was ice cold (but I had to stick my feet in anyway). Taking this route was an adventure, and was less crowded...definitely worth it.

After leaving Füssen, we stopped in Munich on the way back north. Munich is the capital of Bavaria, and the third largest city in Germany. We only spent one day here, which definitely was not enough to see everything. We did get to see the Dachau concentration camp, but that's another post....

To see the rest of our pictures from Füssen and Munich, click this link:

Munich and Fussen

Mom's Trip to Germany!

It's one thing to hear about Germany over skype and through emails, but it's another thing to experience it first-hand. This summer, Mom finally got a chance to experience everything we have been telling her about. Over the month that she stayed with us, we made sure to pack in as much as possible. Apart from the daily experiences of living in Bielefeld (riding bikes, taking the trains and buses), we managed to travel to Bavaria (Füssen and Munich), Cologne, Dusseldorf, Boppard, and a few places in between. We'll be sharing some of those pictures in the next few posts.

Fresh off the plane

Welcome to Germany!

Mom’s first experience riding the buses around Bielefeld.

Mom’s first German friend!

Stipshausen and Bernkastel, Germany

It's always a neat experience to meet a relative you've never met before...especially for us. For the past year, our lives have revolved around travelling and experiencing new things. Meeting a relative for the first time who happens to be German is a nice melding of our concepts of "home". Home can be in many different places.

Stipshausen is a tiny little town (population right around 1,000 people) outside of Idar-Oberstein. This area is much more hilly (being from Florida, I would call them mountains) than Bielefeld. We travelled by train here to meet Billy's cousin and his family, and Billy's uncle who was visiting from the states. We'd like to thank them for showing us amazing hospitality and a really great weekend!

The train ride down there was beautiful. For quite a long stretch between Köln and Bad Kreuznach, the tracks run right next to the Rhine River. This river is known as one of the most beautiful, romantic rivers in the world. It is also the longest and most important river in Germany. The river's importance as a trade route gave rise to the many castles that line its banks, each with its own story. Most of the castles were built during midieval times, when Germany was made up of hundreds of individual states. The royalty in these states built castles along the Rhine to tax merchant ships for the right to safe passage. More and more sprung up, and today you can still see one every few minutes, towering above the river. I will elaborate on a few of these castles when we go to visit them next month!

While we were there, we went to visit the town of Bernkastel.

This quaint little German town is built on the bank of the Moselle River, which is as beautiful as the Rhine, although lesser known. Cruise ships travel down both rivers, and stop intermittently to let passengers explore the towns. You can tell which towns the ships stop at, because everything is PERFECT.

It was like visiting Germany at Epcot. All of the houses are painted beautifully, everything looks historic, there are flowers overflowing from boxes on every windowsill, and there are grape vines forming arches over the walkways. It's hard to believe that people actually live here! There must be a lot of pressure on them to keep everything looking this way year round.

We took a ferry ride to see the area from the river. This really is the best way to see the castles, and the countryside. This region is known for wine. Lining the banks of the Moselle are grape vines, as far as the eye can see. We were blown away by how steep the cliffs are that the grapes are grown on. All of the grapes are hand-picked, which apparently is what makes the wine so expensive! What a job that must be.

Since moving here, we've seen a lot of traditional looking German houses. They're beautiful, with their painted details and dark brown beams. Much of what we have seen is not actually that old, because so much of Germany was destroyed by bombs in WWII. In some cities we've visited, as much as 95% was destroyed, and then rebuilt to look like it did before. When we were in Bernkastel, we knew that a lot of the buildings we saw were actual, old, traditional German houses. How? They were crooked. Look at the pictures!

Some of them are so crooked I can't believe the people don't roll out of bed at night! Epcot could take some pointers from this town.

Click on the picture below to see the rest of our pictures!

Stipshausen and Bernkastle

Madeira, Portugal

Another country down! We went to Madeira for a Sport Science conference from the 12-17th. Getting there was an adventure! Because we had been so busy with wedding planning in the previous months, we put off buying our plane tickets to Madeira and ended up flying late at night. Our first plane was also delayed quite a bit, causing us to miss our connecting flight in Lisbon, Portugal. Luckily, there was another flight out that night...we arrived after midnight and still had a long car ride to the hotel.

The airport in Madeira used to be considered one of the most dangerous runways in the world because it was only 1400 meters (0.8 miles) long, giving pilots very little time to land and no room for error. The runway is also built along a rocky cliff, and the landscape of the island causes very strong winds on the runway. After a terrible plane crash off the end of the runway in 1977, they decided to build an extension onto it. Today the runway is much safer and has a more normal length, but the wind made our landing still a little bit scary. We felt like we were landing sideways, but we touched down flat...I'm just glad it was dark outside.

Madeira is an island that belongs to Portugal, but it's actually much closer to Africa than it is to Portugal. Because the island is so far out into the Atlantic, the water gets deep very fast and people can often see wales migrating. The terrain of the island was pretty amazing...it was formed by volcanoes, so it was so harsh, but really fertile at the same time. Everything was rocky and steep. The highways are just a series of tunnels and bridges because there's no flat land anywhere. It was neat to see the huge jagged rocks coming up out of the water just off the coast.

We stayed in the capital city of Funchal. Funchal means "fennel" in Portugese, which you can find growing on the island.

We had one day mostly to ourselves, so we went into the town center and saw the local farmer's market. They had a huge fish section, and rows and rows of every fruit you could imagine. They also sell a lot of handmade wicker things, flowers, and embroidery.

Later we took a cable car up the mountain to the city of Monte. From the cable car you get a great aerial view of Funchal, of the rocky coastline, and of the banana plantations. There were banana trees everywhere on the island, and because the terrain is so steep, all of the farmland is terraced. There is a surprising amount of farmland, too. Madeira used to be one of the major world suppliers of sugar. Today, I believe they are mostly producing fruit and vegetables. It's hard to imagine farming without any heavy equipment, and right on the edge of a cliff.

Monte was a quiet little town with flowers everywhere. We walked through a garden that was just overflowing with blue hydrangeas, lilies, flowering trees, everything you can think of.

One of the most unique and famous things to do in Madeira is take the toboggan ride down the hill from Monte. This is the oldest method of transportation in Madeira. The toboggan is basically a wicker bench/sled that is driven and steered by two very authentic looking Madeiran men. It wasn't all that fast, but it was a lot of fun. At the bottom of the hill, taxi drivers line up to try to take you back to Funchal. When we got there, a bus came by that was going our way, but as we ran to get on it a taxi driver said "stop, it's going the wrong way", and we didn't get on. He then wanted to drive us to town. I'm now 100% positive that the bus was going the right way. We decided to walk away from the taxi drivers down to the next bus stop, but we ended up down a wrong road far from where we needed to be. Billy hailed down a taxi driving by, and wouldn't you know it, it was the same guy! I would have taken any taxi over his, but we made it back.

The other major experience of the trip was a guided bus tour sponsored by the conference. We were in huge buses going up very narrow mountain roads. At times you could see right over the edge. We had a tour guide that explained all about the history and culture of Madeira, and we saw some amazing views. It's really amazing how densely inhabited parts of the island are, given the terrain and the distance from the mainland. Almost everything you see, from cars to Cheetoes, had to be shipped in.

Overall, one of our favorite parts of Madeira was the food! Everything we ate was unique and delicious. Every place we went had the traditional bread, "bolo do caco". It's almost like a big english muffin with garlic butter. Of course, you can also get great seafood. Their specialty is fried black scabbard fish with a banana on top. We saw tons of that fish at the farmer's market...it's actually pretty terrifying!

Madeira was an interesting place to visit. I think all it's missing is a sandy beach!

Click on the picture below to see the rest of our pictures!

Madeira, Portugal