back in Germany
Freiburg was unbelievably beautiful and so
old; Magdalena goes to the University of Freiburg which was founded in
1457!! That makes her college 500 years older than mine. 500 years old--did you hear that?! Just think of
how young the U.S. is in the scheme of things!
We spent yesterday morning wandering around Freiburg, taking in the old town, spending our last minutes with Magdalena eating ice cream and taking in the hum of this wonderful city. It was sad to say goodbye to Magdalena, (my backseat-car-mate) and to know that the greatest part of our roadtrip is behind us, but we we were at least happy to know that Magdalena hopes to join us next weekend in Hamburg or Berlin.
We are now in Yannick's (and Beethoven's!!) home town of Bonn, which is also the hometown of Haribou, makers of gummies. We went to the grocery store and they literally have a half an aisle just dedicated to gummy choices in dozens of flavors--I was in heaven! Bonn is also very beautiful, aside from gummies. Bonn dates back nearly 2,000 years, a place that the Romans once occupied--something amazing to ponder as you walk around. The Catholic church, Bonner Munster, (churches are referred to as Munster), an amazing architectural sight to behold, and the site of 2 giant stone heads, a memorial to the story of two martyred early Christians who died for their faith in 304 A.D: google the story about Cassius and Florentius.
We are now staying with Yannick's family and had the most wonderful German family dinner: cabbage in vinegar ("coleslaw"), pickles, olives, pickled onions (from Austria), varieties of breads and meats, and a most delicious zucchini dish, (hard) cider and wine. We spent a couple hours in interesting conversation, sipping wine and talking about the state of world affairs (both the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and the current state of Ukraine and Russia--what these things mean to the U.S. vs. what they mean to European countries). I know it sounds super lame, but I've fantasized about nights like this. We also regaled them with the funny stories of our travels, which was definitely a lighter conversation to the former.
Today we head to Cologne, Germany and possibly Hamburg...?
We spent yesterday morning wandering around Freiburg, taking in the old town, spending our last minutes with Magdalena eating ice cream and taking in the hum of this wonderful city. It was sad to say goodbye to Magdalena, (my backseat-car-mate) and to know that the greatest part of our roadtrip is behind us, but we we were at least happy to know that Magdalena hopes to join us next weekend in Hamburg or Berlin.
We are now in Yannick's (and Beethoven's!!) home town of Bonn, which is also the hometown of Haribou, makers of gummies. We went to the grocery store and they literally have a half an aisle just dedicated to gummy choices in dozens of flavors--I was in heaven! Bonn is also very beautiful, aside from gummies. Bonn dates back nearly 2,000 years, a place that the Romans once occupied--something amazing to ponder as you walk around. The Catholic church, Bonner Munster, (churches are referred to as Munster), an amazing architectural sight to behold, and the site of 2 giant stone heads, a memorial to the story of two martyred early Christians who died for their faith in 304 A.D: google the story about Cassius and Florentius.
We are now staying with Yannick's family and had the most wonderful German family dinner: cabbage in vinegar ("coleslaw"), pickles, olives, pickled onions (from Austria), varieties of breads and meats, and a most delicious zucchini dish, (hard) cider and wine. We spent a couple hours in interesting conversation, sipping wine and talking about the state of world affairs (both the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and the current state of Ukraine and Russia--what these things mean to the U.S. vs. what they mean to European countries). I know it sounds super lame, but I've fantasized about nights like this. We also regaled them with the funny stories of our travels, which was definitely a lighter conversation to the former.
Today we head to Cologne, Germany and possibly Hamburg...?
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