Its been a little while since I last enlightened you with the ramblings from my life here abroad. Since then I've been to Heidelberg, Cologne, and have a few more trips coming up! In 2 weeks I will head to Augsburg to visit Doris and Erwin, distant relatives of the Pfitzer family, and I could not be more excited! Two years ago I was in Augsburg with my mom and had a wonderful time; this time around I'm sure I'll have even more.With lots going on now that Spring is slowly arriving, I have lots of pictures to share. So this will be one of those picture-filled posts with little blurbs about everything.
Fellow Wisconsin students playing games on the train to Heidelberg (Juan, Dustin, Dalton, and anyone else who plays magic may enjoy this...even better, the cards were in German)
Interesting sculpture outside of the Hauptbahnhof in Heidelberg...
In the Altstadt of Heidelberg near the Old University--the buildings and sculptures were incredible!
Kelsey and I
Here is a casual picture of all the Americans in my group. We are waiting outside the Studentenkarzer, the student prison, which used to house misbehaving students. I don't think they were trying to tell us anything...
Graffiti around Germany
Garden outside the student prison (parts of the building have now been renovated into apartments)
Entrance to the "prison", students who misbehaved in the 1800s-1900s were sent here to stay for a few weeks. They were unable to leave except to attend class, there were special doors that led into the university buildings to make this possible. Students could be sent to the prison for even the smallest offense, and many did things on purpose for the status that one achieved after spending some time in the building. During their stay the students painted on the walls; silhouettes of themselves, their story of how they came to be there, poems and more. The following pictures give better examples than my words!
"One for all, and all for One" The motto of a fraternity in Heidelberg. They are shown wearing their signature red caps. Here a few of them tell their story of how they came to be in the prison.
Later we went to visit this fraternity and had a tour through their house.
A building in the Old University that is now mainly used for concerts and special events. I really enjoyed all the murals on the wall and ceiling!
Not much to say about this...I just like taking pictures of artwork!
walking through the streets of Heidelberg...
Schneeballen! (Snowballs) These are simply delicious! Fried dough is layered and rolled into balls that are often filled with chocolate, caramel, or covered in other decadent ingredients.
Typical Heidelberg buildings with the castle in the background
I just thought this was a pretty cool statue.
They make it really hard here to resist!
A fencing demonstration during our tour of the Heidelberg fraternity. Every day for two hours the current members need to practice fencing. Long ago duels used to take place between the various fraternities and many students would end up with slashes on their face, which eventually became a symbol for a student.
The meeting room that the fraternity still uses today. Everything looked as if it was from the early 1900s!
Pictures of past members that line the walls of the meeting room. Look familiar? Some of these men's silhouettes are on the walls of the studentenkarzer.
Bob Dylan-sounding street performer in Heidelberg
This marks the beginning of my trip to Cologne. Again, I like all the street art everywhere!
Der Dom! The Cologne Cathedral, larger than I ever imagined!
Gandalf, posing on the plaza outside of the Dom
Angels atop beer boxes? Only in Germany!
533 Steps to the top of the Cathedral's tower!
We made it!
View from the top of the Dom
...we just had to.
Love locks on the bridge over the Rhine.
We made a visit to the Chocolate museum! Learned all about the process of how chocolate is made, where the cocoa bean comes from, and even got free samples of the Lindt chocolate that they make on site :)
Very talented street performers in the main shopping area in Cologne. Love free concerts!
Ritter Sport!
That is all for now, until I have more time to write! For now these pictures will have to do :)
