Aachen

What to do in the Freizeit? Travel. :-)

Right outside the Aachen Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) was this herd of Pferde. Five of them and five of us. It took the girls some time to get on, but we made. It really reminded me of how long it has been since I have ridden on a horse.

I thought this building was strange. I have seen all sorts of red brick buildings, but the yellow was an interesting highlight. Seemed to be just shops and offices, Deutsche Post was inside one section.

The Theatre, we only happened by it because there was a statue in front of it that caught my eye and I wandered off to see what it was. And then I failed to take a picture of the statue.

There was this bench/sundeck, so naturally I laid down.

And here we all are with the nice lady waiting for us to finish our timer controlled picture. Hahaha....

Looking from the old bath building to the Dom and Rathaus. Lovely green area in the city center.

I noticed as I was staring up at the figurines, that there seemed to be some missing. Or maybe there are just places for the future? But after hundreds of years what would you add?

Hehehe... Not sure what or why.

Model of the Cathedral. We took a tour with a guide in German, as the English tour started a little bit before we arrived and we did not want to wait half-an-hour or more. I was actually amazed at how much I really did understand. :-)
 According to the guide, when Karl der Große (a.k.a. Charlemagne for the English speakers) built the Dom around 800 A.D. it consisted of just the central octagon.

 The inside was originally white when it was built, but at some point (I forget the date) it was renovated and covered with these lovely mosaics. There was a man working on restoring a small section.

This is around the edge of the octagon. 

I do not know where this leads, one of the small alcoves branching off the center as seen in the model, but it looked neat. You can also see some of the marble that was everywhere. 

 This mosaic is on the top of the ceiling in the center.

 This is the ceremonial or church (not for governing) throne on the second level. Not at all fancy, it is a relic made from sections of the temple from Jerusalem. One side had some square scratch marks that the guide said was likely made by Romans soldiers as a game board. 

 The reliquary that holds some of the bones of Karl der Große, hands being located at other places, and one female rib of unidentified origin. The lady on the left was our guide. I believe she said that Karl der Große was buried in the church, and then hundreds of years later Barbarossa exhumed the tomb and placed the bones in the reliquary.
 This cathedral was the crowning places for kings and queens for hundreds of years.

 I thought these hinges were delightful. They give the door much more character than modern hinges.

Believe it or not, this is the back side of the Rathaus. The appearance is like an old keep. 

 I believe it was this tower (on the right side in the previous picture) that was a remnant of Karl der Großes castle. I wanted to climb it. It looks possible. But, as I have not climbed in a long time, I would definitely want some safety gear.

The front side was boring. The red shutters on top piqued my interest, but we did not end up going inside. 

 Blumen.

 As we passed this shop I had to do a double-take. Schwarzgelb are the correct colors, but that name and emblem are just wrong. 

 And then the most exciting part of the trip for the girls, the Lindt factory. You could smell it as we approached, and it was delicious.

The factory outlet store, where Lindt chocolate cost as little as normal off-brand chocolate, though it still tastes better. I won't tell you how fast I have gone through three-quarters of a kilo.

Next stop? Schwebebahn in Wuppertal or London!

Nic

Schnee

Life can have a spiral nature. It was pointed out to me by my Brazilian flatmate Leandro last week. He was talking about how we had just switched the direction of the spiral around in our kitchen. I had cleaned a little, and he saw it. So, he cleaned a little more. But before that, someone left it a little dirty, so the next person left it a little dirtier, and so on.

And I have found the same thing with both my studies and my communication. I put off studying for Math today, and then I don't feel like focusing on German tomorrow, and I spiral downward into the ever-populated wastes of the internet. And when I don't write a card home this week, I fail to update the blog next week, and then I don't think about Skyping after that.

Well here is for reversing the spiral. :-)



Schnee. That wonderful sensation of crystallized dihydrogenmonoxide. That frozen mixture of Wasserstoff und Sauerstoff. I came to Germany hoping to find piles of it in the winter.

Since early December people have been saying "Next week it will snow". Why last year was apparently one of the worst snows Dortmund has seen for a long time. But December ticked by without a flake seen by me (apparently it snowed outside the library for 5 minutes).

Well there was January with some of the worst winter weather in Europe. Bayern was snowed in, and Italy has been unusually visited by the mysterious white guest. And I saw big fat flakes fall for 15 minutes to wet the ground outside the Bio- und Chemieingenieurwesen. But not to worry, there was sure to be snow in February.

Last Saturday or Sunday I sat at my desk in my room working on the computer (possibly working hard), when I looked out to see small white bits dancing in the breeze. Up and down. Back and forth. They flitted and floated. But only for a short time. And only for my eye to see at the fourth floor. Nothing visible was on the ground.

Well the time for nature was up. Last Monday after my Math exam, I took a train (and a bus) with friends to Botrrop about an hour away to an indoor ski slope.

Ten years or better since the first time I have skied. But with a few runs down the initial slope (lets not talk about the fight to grab the rope to get dragged up to the top of that initial portion), I felt ready for more. Down the I went, covering the 200m in very little time, almost colliding with a wall. And then onto a conveyor belt to get back to the top. And still on the conveyor. And look at all the holes people have poked in the ceiling above the conveyor. Man this sure is long ride. And out. I really think it took 30 seconds to go down the slope and 7 minutes to get back up. Well the skiing on powdery snow and some sections of ice was only a wetting of the appetite for future skiing (I hope) and for the included buffet.

That took us to around 11 O'clock, skiing and eating. A thing to note is that while public transportation in Germany is very good, it slows down a lot after 8pm and there is very little after midnight. We could have taken a taxi to the train station, but, equipped with a smart phone and a transportation app, we thought we could get home without paying extra.

What an adventure! The first two buses were alright, just the usual checking of direction, but then the app messed up. And we waited in the cold for an hour for a bus that didn't show. Waited another half hour for a cab, to rush us to a train, to catch another tram... Well it may have taken 3.5 hours and the use of all forms of transport except boat, but I did finally get home safe with the knowledge that next time we should just call a cab.

Well Thursday had the forecast for "Snow Grains", and as I walked over the white dusting to the bus stop to get to the Uni, I had to agree.

 Flakes was not a fitting description for it.

Well some in Europe are asking Chuck Norris to close his freezer, but I am crossing my fingers for tomorrow. The forecast is "Chance of Snow".

Nic

Versprochenen Bilder

 Err.. ummm... Well, yes. Writing again. Here are some pictures as promised (finally).

The Friday before Christmas I went with a group of students to Duesseldorf to see their Christmas Market and the Rhine. I thought this stall with all of the puppets was neat.
 

 All sorts of food, some presents, and rides for kids.

 Here is the group! Yep. Even in Germany, the Engineering ratio is the same as at Tech.

 This was a really pretty Weihnachtspyramide.

 Apple cakes with sugar and cinnamon were delicious.

And Duesseldorf's Weihnachtsbaum. Well... just wait...

This is a picture from the inside of an Irish pub --there is one in every town, except the one I new in dortmund is closed-- were we stopped for a drink. Everyone ordered, and then, after a few minutes, the waiter came back and asked me what I ordered again. So I told him. And he started bringing drinks. Few more minutes and the Irishman at the bar came over, said the other guy could not understand me, and asked what I ordered. The only native English speaker in the group, and I was the only one not understood. Thankfully the Irishman had no problem understanding me.

 Off to the Rhine.

Okay, these kind of trees are just the creepiest trees ever without leaves. Here it looks like it has a hundred skinny fingers just waiting to grab you. Some of them are free of the little twigs, but then their limbs end in these bald bulges.

The TV tower! Last time I was in Germany, I spent the night in Duesseldorf before leaving. I saw the TV tower from a distance and noticed changing lights going up and down it. I tried and guessed and conjectured, but I could not figure out what the lights were for. This time going inside the tower, there was a simple explanation of the lights making a clock.
  

 Looking towards where I took the panorama picture. See the two docks and the whitish building? Somewhere around there.

This building looked weird when we walked past it, and, from above, it makes me think sci-fi.

We did not get over there to see why there were red, blue, and yellow people crawling over the building. I am guessing some art-preserve.

A statue at one end of Koenigsallee, a street divided by a canal in Duesseldorf.

 Walking along Koenigsallee, there are a lot of fancy shops, showrooms, etc.. Not really anyplace I would by something, but some fun places to look in.

 Back to Dortmund, with a larger Weihnachtspyramide.

 And a larger Weihnachtsbaum (the largest in Germany), with a replica in lights of the shield trophy that the Germany Bundesliga Champions (BVB this past year) recieve. I actually saw the original shield a week or two before this. I had gone to the Christmas market with friends, and, as we made our way back to the Hauptbahnhof, we noticed it in the window of a jewelry store along the main shopping street. Unfortunately, I think I had no camera with me.

Food and drink.

And lights!

Well the other thing I got up to recently was re-flooring the apartment.

 Apparently I got started at a slight angle or the walls are not perfectly perpendicular anymore causing too large of a gap at the edge.

 But I can cover that.

Before and after working down the hallway.

I noticed there was this bug on one of the boards. Closer inspection showed it was actually compressed into the board during the manufacturing. So now I get to see who notices the little black spot in the middle of the hallway.

 Hallway finished with transitions into Kitchen and Bathroom.

 On to my room.

 A bit of work to get the laminate into this joining piece, but I am happy with the results.

 And finished with everything, but the base board. I do have the plastic clips for it put up. Now I have finished with cutting and placing those, but I didn't take a picture yet.
The hallway measuring about 10 m^2 took over 9 hours to do with all the cutouts for doorways.
My room measuring about 18 m^2 took only 5 hours. That was so nice and easy.

 And this afternoon, I finally got stocking stuffers! Though, how I am supposed to eat Pez without a Pez dispenser?

And a new hat! Man that guy should learn to smile.

Frohes Neues Jahre!
Nic

Glühwein

So a few weeks without a post and what have I been up to? 175 cm. Well normally I tell somethings about and to go along with the picture I have taken, but I have not remembered to take many pictures.

What can I say? Being a student is tiring.

I have been to the Weihnachtsmarkt few times with friends, they have the largest Christmas tree in Germany (or so I have been told) here and tried Glühwein, but I never got my camera out. I may see about going on a visit this week just to take pictures.

There has been a stand for Waffeln und Glühwein outside the Mensa for a while. I never associated waffels with Christmas before. Oh, and there was also a Weihnachtsmann in blue (or was it green?) costume. Through which I learned that this used to be common, but thanks to Coca-Cola St. Nicholas is dressed in red.

Did you know he delivers goodies on the 6th of December, which is St. Nicholas day? I am learning so much! At least here in Germany, Poland, and Romania. I think it is for most of Europe, but those ones I am sure about.  

Christmas and some Birthday presents arrived almost two weeks ago. By chance, I was at home to receive some of them, but I ended up making a trip to Herne to pick up a package from the UPS. Not a trip I will make again, out to the industrial portion of Herne. Next time I will just redirect it to the offices of my program at the Universität. I did get to walk throught the Weihnachtsmarkt  in Herne; it is much smaller.

Last Monday, the international office had its Second-Monday Party hosted by the Mathematics Fakultät. They had us make Christmas cookies. They had cookie cutters of each continent, and, after I showed were NM lies on North America, I got bored. I made some stars, ate some dough, and then decided that South America looked like a raptor tail.

 So South America made up the main body and tail, the rest came from cutting the dough with Africa.

 There was lots of fun to be had. Waffeln to eat, Kakao to drink, and dough to play with.

Sadly for Australia cat, there were casualties. But really from the first look at him, you knew he was a blood thirsty killer like every other raptor.

Last night Heidi had a Christmas party at her apartment. Everyone brought presents, white elephant style, and  we played a fun game with them. For the first part, the presents were put on the table in the center there, and we had two dice passing around the circle. If someone rolled a six, they got to choose a present off the table, but not unwrap it. Once all the presents were gone, Heidi set a timer with no one else knowing how much time it was set for. We then started rolling again, but when you rolled a six you got to steal a present from someone. It was great. Presents kept getting stolen back and forth (one in-particular had such focus as to become IT), some people had a large pile for a few minutes only to become the target of all thieves, and lots of laughs were heard in the room with a few groans. Finally after an hour or so the timer went off, and those who had some presents went around opening them in turn.

Now one more week before the break. And nothing large planned yet, so we will see when I write again...

Auf Wiederlesen,

Nic

Thanksgiving (oder Hüttenkäse)

So last week was Thanksgiving, and true to form, I decided to have friends over for a meal. This means the week before Thanksgiving I finally got around to inviting people. And then the Monday before my roommate (flatmate?) and I went to Ikea to get kitchen ware so I could actually cook the Thanksgiving meal.

 Mixing bowls, wooden spoons, plates for everyone, rubber spatula/scraper (what is the proper name for it?), glass pans to cook in the oven (9"x13" -ish), and all the other odds and ends that were needed. Well once we got it all home, I got excited looking through my recipe box and decided to make my sister's Manicotti recipe that night --not really having the equipment to cook had been limiting my culinary possibilities. Off to the store I went, on a harrowing 300m journey (not really, but as most will have no sense for how far 300m is I can play around).

Garlic, noodles, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella (still in water) were all easy to find, but for the life of me I could not find cottage cheese. I wandered up and down the milch products, but I could not find it. Finally, I broke down and decided to ask at the "Cheese Counter".

 --Now while I now there are deli and butchers counters in american grocery stores, I have never approached them before, and I always remember them looking empty, maybe one attendant. Now in this German grocery store, there is a butcher's counter, with vast displays of jelled meats, ground meats, sausages, and cuts, and a cheese counter, with large wheels of different cheeses, with a couple of happy looking attendants just waiting to help. And I, worried about making a fool of myself with my scant knowledge of German, had avoided them up to this point.--

So, with not a little apprehension, I approached and asked the lady at the "Cheese Counter". Not having looked up the German term for cottage cheese, I first tried to see if she new it by its English name. No luck. Then to describe it. Hmm... how does one describe cottage cheese? I tried to explain it was little pieces. She took me back to the milch row were again we looked without finding it. Oh well. Then I asked her about parmesan. "Ah. Parmesan. Ja genau. komm." she said. So, I got myself a nice chunk of aged parmesan and grabbed a bag of random grated cheese to substitute for cottage cheese.

Then I started looking for hamburger, but I couldn't find any packaged hamburger. I knew I had seen it, and made another round of the store. That is when I realized I had seen in the discounter next door, which had no butcher, cheese, or fish counter. So happy with my interaction at the "Cheese Counter", I headed for the butcher's counter. There I did not see just ground beef. I did see a beef and schweine mix which looked just like what I would expect for hamburger, which brought to mind a dream like memory that the hamburger in the US is also a pork and beef mix, so I got a half kilo, payed for all and headed home.

 Fear of food counters = CONQUERED!!!

It took a while to stuff the noodles, but my dinner was delicious. Thank you Martha!
I looked up cottage cheese, it is Hüttenkäse, and now, armed with its proper name, I am able to find it in stores.

So that began my week of "huh, I guess that is an American thing".
 Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom for green bean casserole I substituted with a can of Eraco (Campbell Germany) Cream of Phillinger (probably spelled wrong; a kind of mushroom) soup and a packet of the same.
 Cool-Whip for the Jello salad was substituted with spray whipped cream. I was a little surprised at how little is really in a can.
 Not having made a pie -- which are a foreign concept for Germans, I have been told it is impossible to find a pie tin-- this year, I talked with friends about traditional Thanksgiving pies and they did not know what pecans  were. Gulp. While the German name is easy, Pekannuss, I have not found them. Even the guy at the Turkish(?) nut shop did not know it.

The Thanksgiving dinner was very good, seating being procured for everyone the day before. We ate, we drank, we told jokes.

Left to Right is Luiza, Domiki, Mehdi (my roommate), Anna, and Alex. All in Mehdi's room as the kitchen is small.

Also, Sedillo Park has been 1-uped.

Time for Christmas!!!

Nic