Deutsch-Kompakt

Since I've been in Tuebingen I've been taking part in the so-called "Deutsch-Kompakt" course, which is a language prep/orientation course for international students. There's about 45 people in the class and about 30 of them are American, so it's way different than at the Goethe-Institute. I actually wish there weren't so many Americans, because most of them just want to speak English all the time, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to do here. But, not really a big deal, because I've made a lot of good friends in the course and had a lot of fun. Besides having normal class each day, we all frequently have "excursions" like going to Stuttgart, doing a wine tasting (that was awesome, btw), going bowling, etc. They also help us with the University paperwork and bureaucracy. For the record, registering for courses at a German university practically requires a college degree in and of itself. Grrrrr, it's driving me crazy, but moving on!

For one week (March 15-20) we went to this retreat house that's owned by the university. The retreat house is in this little village called Blaubeuren, which is about an hour or so east of Tuebingen. Ironically, this was probably the most fun week ever, despite being in a town of approximately 10,000 inhabitants. It was kind of like being on a freshman floor, because we all lived in a dorm together, all ate together, etc. They also had a lot of events planned for us, such as a tour of the cloister (Kloster in German) that's in town, a visit to Ulm (which is only about 15 minutes from Blaubeuren), a hiking excursion, and even an evening at a bar with the students of the local boarding school. That last one was a little weird, just because I don't think an American would ever come to the idea to send a bunch of 20-something foreign students to a bar with 16 and 17-yr-olds, but hey, that's the German way. It actually was fun to talk with the students, though, and it's always good to speak with native speakers.

The pictures below are from Blaubeuren and Ulm, but soon I'll post pictures of some of my other activities so far in Tuebingen and write a little about the day trips I've been taking with my friends. Bis dann!

The Kloster in Blaubeuren





This sundial was correct, but there was another one there that was about 2 hours off...not sure why



Some parts of the Kloster (like that fresco) are over 1000 years old


The beautiful altarpiece in the chapel


This is how I always pictured Germany in my mind (only sunnier & with leaves)


Our goal: hike to these ruins of a 10th century fort/castle (and try not to get killed along the way)


Finally made it!


I bet this view would be even better in the summer when everything isn't dead


The cathedral in Ulm and the ultra-modern "Stadthalle" next to it (apparently there was a lot of controversy about putting such a modern building next to the cathedral, the most famous landmark of the city)



Fun fact alert! The steeple of the cathedral is the highest church tower in the world. 768 steps to the top up a tiny spiral staircase = not so fun


resting partway up





The view was totally worth it (that's the Danube river and the "Stadthalle" from above)


It was almost clear enough to see all the way to the Alps!




The Danube and the first signs of spring! it was still pretty cold though, so don't be fooled


Backward jackets are all the rage. And this picture was in the greatest bar ever: tiny (about 3 tables) and the only other people there were these 50-yr-old locals. They were awesome though; they spoke Schwaebisch (the local dialect) and were super excited that we could speak german so well. It was quite entertaining.


In Tuebingen, cooking dinner together in my dorm's kitchen.


At the dinner all the Deutsch-Kompakt people had together the first week.

Oops, I realized I forgot to post the video and description of the Glockenspiel. Here's the description, all in my own words of course:

"The Rathaus-Glockenspiel of Munich is a tourist attraction in Marienplatz the heart of Munich.^[1]

Part of the second construction phase of the New Town Hall, it dates from 1908. Every day at 11 a.m. (as well as 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. in summer) it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to the amusement of mass crowds of tourists and locals. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famous Hofbräuhaus) to Renata of Lothringen. In honour of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian knight wins every time of course.

This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schäfflerstanz (the coopers' dance). In the 16th century a particularly bad period of the plague hit town and everyone went into hiding. The first people to dare go back onto the streets were barrel makers who performed a big dance to show that it was okay to come out again. The Duke of Bavaria was so happy about this that he actually ordered them to re-enact this every seven years, a custom which continues to this day. The dance can be seen during Fasching (German Carnival) but the next one is not until 2012.

The whole show lasts somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes long depending on which tune it plays that day. At the very end a very small golden bird at the top of the Glockenspiel chirps three times, marking the end of the spectacle."

And here's the video. You by no means need to watch all of it; it's pretty repetitive, but at least you can see what all this Glockenspiel business is about.

Tour de Denny

Ok, dad, here's the post about the Munich trip I promised you (and make sure Uncle Denny reads it).

2 weekends ago I went to Munich (or, properly, Muenchen) to meet up with my dad. He had been in Munich that week for a trade show ("Messe" in German) and decided to stay through the weekend so I could come visit him. I embarked Thursday afternoon (skipped class on Friday, whoops) for what should have been a three hour train ride, but actually ended up being about 4.5 hours because of delays, which caused to miss connections and resulted in a lot of waiting on train platforms. Anyways, finally got to Munich, my dad picked me up in the train station and then we ate a late dinner in the hotel restaurant (for the record, traveling with parents is the way to go. Trust me, "Le Meridien Muenchen" beats a youth hostel, hands down). The next day the weather wasn't terrible (read: cold and cloudy but not precipitation) so we spent a lot of time wandering around the Altstadt. We went to the Frauenkirche, the Viktualienmarkt, and of course Marienplatz, the main square in front of the town hall. And while we were in Marienplatz we got to see the Glockenspiel (see video and description below). We wanted to go up in one of the towers of the Frauenkirche, but it was closed til April. Fortunately we found another church with a tower you could climb up; not quite as high but a pretty impressive view nonetheless.

As we were slowly making our way back to the hotel to rest before dinner we walked past this huge, ugly sculpture of a fish and another of a boar. "What the heck is up with these statues?" we wondered. Then we noticed that the building they were positioned outside of had a sign over the door: Deutches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum (German Hunting and Fishing Museum). " We decided this was too weird to pass up, especially since it only cost 3 euros to get in. All I can say is: best decision of our lives. This was possibly the strangest museum I have ever been in. It kind of looked like a church inside, which is probably due to the fact that it was in fact a church that was built in the 1400s and then mostly destroyed during WWII. It was rebuilt in the early 60s for the purpose of the being the Hunting and Fishing Museum (why such a museum was necessary, I don't know), but still has some church elements going on. See photos below for clarification. Upon seeing the racks of antlers lining the walls, my dad exclaimed "This is Denny's dream museum!" And thus the Tour de Denny was born.

When we got back to our hotel my dad and I decided that Saturday would be our museum day, and more specifically, we would try to find the most offbeat museums in Munich. At dinner that night (in a vegetarian restaurant no less!) we vowed that every museum we visited had to somehow relate to Denny. Thus our itinerary included: the Deutsches Museum (science and technology), the Potato Museum, and the Beer and Oktoberfest Museum. The next day (Saturday) we began with the Deutsches Museum, which, while not offbeat, is nevertheless highly informative about every aspect of technology you could ever imagine (I especially enjoyed the photography section). We then moved on to the Potato Museum, which was actually located in the ground floor of some office building, and didn't have an entrance fee because it was sponsored by some big potato product company. Again, check the photos below for the results of this visit. Next up was the Beer and Oktoberfest museum, which we almost didn't find because the entrance was in some alley. It was in this really tall old house with tons of little crooked staircases you had to climb up to find the exhibits. Now, the Bavarians (and Germans in general) may like talking about the history of their beer, but they like drinking it more, which is why more than half of the space in the museum house was devoted to a pub. After drinking a beer there with some locals dressed up in traditional Bavarian costume we went back to the hotel to rest up for the next adventure of the day: the Hofbrauhaus.

I assume most of you know of the Hofbrauhaus, but for those who don't it's a giant and very famous beer hall in Munich where the only way to order beer is 1 liter at a time (trust me, we asked at one point for a half and the waiter just shook his head at us). It's incredibly touristy and tacky, but has some pretty dang good beer. We figured that since we were, in fact, tourists it was perfectly acceptible for us to go there. Even though the place is gigantic it still took a while to find a table. Well, actually, just part of a table, because in the Hofbrauhaus there's just a bunch of huge tables that seat about 12 people each, and you just walk around until you see a spot open up and then sit down. It's a great way to meet people, such as the 55-yr-old Bavarian couple next to me who told us they were "regulars" there and then spoke Bavarian to me the entire time while I pretended to understand and was just trying to eat my food, or the Irish people across from us. The beer was flowing, the oompah band was playing, there were pretzels and sausages aplenty, and we basically thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The next day was a bit more sobering (both figuratively and literally) because we visited the Concentration Camp Memorial in Dachau. I won't say much over that here, because it's going to be part of a later post, except that it was incredibly sad, but, i think, important to see.

That afternoon I packed up, took the train back to Tuebingen (miraculously without delays) and that was the weekend. Lots of fun, and so nice to see my dad again (who, by the way, might be coming to Germany again in April to town that's only 30 kilometers from Tuebingen---I just can't seem to get rid of the guy). That's all for now, but I'm really trying to get caught up with my posts so I can maybe actually some day write about something current, which I believe is the point of a blog. So, auf Wiedersehen!



Some of the sights in the old town.






Munich looks like a fairy tale


Inside the Frauenkirche. The picture on the right is supposed to be the "devil's footprint"


The Rathaus and some political activist demonstration in Marienplatz


The view from the church tower we climbed. Unusually, it was cloudy but not foggy, so we actually had a decent view.


Rathaus tower, Frauenkirche, and Marienplatz


I barely fit in the staircase and dad really didn't fit in the staircase. (we were in that tower)


Maypole thingy in the Viktualienmarkt


Weird statue outside a bank, yet another plant-covered building, and the ubiquitous Hard Rock Cafe


I'm not sure if making a Pope nutcracker is sacrilegious or not; inside a shopping center; another way to deter people from stealing your bike

Old and new



Inside the Hunting and Fishing Museum


Bet you never got one that big, did you Denny? Also, this should be your next anniversary gift to Rita (yes, those are teeth).


Creepy pictures, creepy weapons


Well, hello there big fella!


This is a Wolpertinger, a mythical half rabbit/half fowl creature that roams the forests of Bavaria. They can only seen by virtuous maidens during the full moon, and the only way to catch one is by sprinkling salt on its tail. And the picture on the right (it's exactly what you think it is) demonstrates how Wolpertingers come into being (I'm not kidding, this was in the museum).


Kerschen! (that was the connection between Denny and the Science and Tech museum)


Dad messing up the museum exhibit to demonstrate how he and Denny had to dig potatoes back in the day. And I kind of love those potato-heads.


Again for Denny: this picture shows the brawl that broke out when the Munich beer houses raised their prices. Also, while the waitresses at the Hofbrauhaus were wearing similar costumes, we alas did not see any doing this.


We're bad museum guests (this was in the Beer and Oktoberfest museum)


The oompah (or in German "um-ta-ta") band; "Thirst is worse than homesickness"; "Our second home" (written in Bavarian)


Hofbrau!!; inside the Haus (it's massive, this picture shows only about 1/5 of it)


Prost!