No blog for last night, and not much today. Have a very sore throat, am tired, and sore.
Yesterday we went to Aachen to visit a cathedral from 813. Very impressive! Gorgeous, and so many stories associated with it. It is unlike most of the cathedrals in that it is octagonal, and not in the form of a cross. Beautiful.
I saw the throne of Charlemagne, which is a pretty big deal. It's interesting hearing about the history in school, and now finally seeing some of it for myself.
We also walked around the city, which was, not surprisingly, beautiful as well. It is a very old city, with lots of roman influence. The Rathaus (town hall) was fascinating. It also happens to be a very big, and important, university town. Very young population
Got to meet Miriam's eldest sibling, Jeremiahs. Like the rest of the family, very genial guy, and like the rest, very smart indeed. He showed us a lot of the university buildings, and the hospital, looks like a space ship. Amazing!
This morning, woke up super early to catch the train to köln, and then the train to amsterdam. Will update more on the Amsterdam trip Sunday, most likely. I dont have the keyboard for the iPad, and ive gotten too used to typing with it.
For now, hot tea, and maybe read a little before falling asleep. And maybe I'll feel better for my tour of Amsterdam tomorrow!
Showing posts with label tourist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tourist. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
yes! industrie!
well, to start off, last night i stepped on the scale in the bathroom, it said 69kg. doing the math today, i came to find out that i've lost ~2.3kg (or, about 5lbs)! this is good news for me, because i've put on quite a bit of weight, and i was hoping i'd do enough walking in DE to lose some of it. i also noticed that my pants are fitting better than ever!
that was until around 7pm today, when i ate a huge dinner. and now feel that i am going to waddle all day tomorrow.
now, on to the meat and potatoes of the post.
today we went to oberhausen. it is a city about 60km north of leverkusen (again, where we are staying) oberhausen was, for a very long time, a HEAVY industrial city. it revolved mostly around the production of iron ore into steel. while there, we toured the museum that explained all about the industrial revolution, and about the production of steel. it was incredibly fascinating!
for example, i learned that the men working in the steel factory would end up with black gums because of all the soot, smoke, and shavings that went into the air. i also got to see a hammer for making train wheels that was as big as a house.
after the museum, we went to an industrial park. which was ACTUALLY a park! you got to go inside of the machinery that was, until around 15 years ago, a functioning steel factory. we climbed several flights of stairs, and went on a LOT of really scary pathways. unfortunately, i started chickening out around 55m up, and had to stand on the middle level because i simply could not go any further. it was one thing in the Kölner Dom going up 98 meters, with a wall around me. but going up past 55meters was just impossible for me, because i hate being able to see the ground below me when i'm that high up.
interestingly, while we were on that middle level around 55m up, we could see very far past the city. on the horizon, i spotted two nuclear energy plants. this is INCREDIBLY fascinating to me, because i am a HUGE proponet of nuclear energy. it's very cool being in a country that actually USES this type of energy! as well, they use a lot of solar, and wind energy.
finally, the weather today. it was 15C, and it felt absolutely fantastic! when Miriam and I went to the post office, we didn't even need jackets! unfortunately, we are not going to be having such weather tomorrow. my weather site says ~8C, cloudy, and then possible rain in the evening.
for tomorrow, we are going to Düsseldorf with Samuel, on the DE-bahn. that is, if the strike hasn't made the trip impossible. (i honestly can't remember if i mentioned this, but the DE-Bahn workers voted to strike, again (they did last week) starting tomorrow. So much for a certain co-worker's rich praises, and chastising of riding in a car. (that didn't make much sense, i apologize)
now, i am going to drink some tea, and read a bit from david sedaris. Tschuss!
that was until around 7pm today, when i ate a huge dinner. and now feel that i am going to waddle all day tomorrow.
now, on to the meat and potatoes of the post.
today we went to oberhausen. it is a city about 60km north of leverkusen (again, where we are staying) oberhausen was, for a very long time, a HEAVY industrial city. it revolved mostly around the production of iron ore into steel. while there, we toured the museum that explained all about the industrial revolution, and about the production of steel. it was incredibly fascinating!
for example, i learned that the men working in the steel factory would end up with black gums because of all the soot, smoke, and shavings that went into the air. i also got to see a hammer for making train wheels that was as big as a house.
after the museum, we went to an industrial park. which was ACTUALLY a park! you got to go inside of the machinery that was, until around 15 years ago, a functioning steel factory. we climbed several flights of stairs, and went on a LOT of really scary pathways. unfortunately, i started chickening out around 55m up, and had to stand on the middle level because i simply could not go any further. it was one thing in the Kölner Dom going up 98 meters, with a wall around me. but going up past 55meters was just impossible for me, because i hate being able to see the ground below me when i'm that high up.
interestingly, while we were on that middle level around 55m up, we could see very far past the city. on the horizon, i spotted two nuclear energy plants. this is INCREDIBLY fascinating to me, because i am a HUGE proponet of nuclear energy. it's very cool being in a country that actually USES this type of energy! as well, they use a lot of solar, and wind energy.
finally, the weather today. it was 15C, and it felt absolutely fantastic! when Miriam and I went to the post office, we didn't even need jackets! unfortunately, we are not going to be having such weather tomorrow. my weather site says ~8C, cloudy, and then possible rain in the evening.
for tomorrow, we are going to Düsseldorf with Samuel, on the DE-bahn. that is, if the strike hasn't made the trip impossible. (i honestly can't remember if i mentioned this, but the DE-Bahn workers voted to strike, again (they did last week) starting tomorrow. So much for a certain co-worker's rich praises, and chastising of riding in a car. (that didn't make much sense, i apologize)
now, i am going to drink some tea, and read a bit from david sedaris. Tschuss!
Monday, March 7, 2011
i am not (such) a tourist.
today we were put out in the world by ourselves. dropped off in the main city of Leverkusen, and given a bus schedule! it's not as bad as it sounds, we were pretty much told exactly which bus station, and exactly which busses would lead us back to miriam's house. (which interestingly i learned is in Opladen, not in Leverkusen, but the address is listed as Leverkusen.)
we wandered around their mall (which is apparently VERY new, and a very new concept to germany) for about 45min but it was warm, and very crowded, because today is Rosenmontag. (a holiday. google it.)
so, we decided to wander around in the city itself. we went up and down several streets, admiring the architecture, and the ultra-pedestrian friendliness of it all. it was also nice to be out in the air, as today was one of the nicest days so far. it was warm, and the wind wasn't so
strong, either. it was perfect.
after a while, though, my back started hurting (again). the same place that hurt when i threw it out shoveling my neighbor's sidewalk. i've decided that once we get back to the states, i need to have the doctor look at it.
but i digress. we went back to the mall with the intention of sitting down for a while. we, however, found a watch shop and decided to look around for a bit. i found a watch for ~75€ but costs ~120€ back in the states (even on amazon!) and that doesn't include shipping for the states! so, i splurged. and i REALLY shouldn't have, but my watch back in the states is in need of repair, and i've already taken it to the fossil store TWICE to be repaired.
after being extravagant, we decided to head back home. waited for the bus, and had a lovely bus ride back to miriam's house. (the public transit here is SO impressively clean, quick, and dependable*)
*aside- the DE-Bahn is apparently striking ALL the time. and we learnt that tomorrow, when Rachel has to go back to Trier, she might have problems, because the workers voted by 97% to strike tomorrow. this is apparently very common, and a VERY much a headache to the folks here in DE.
we had a very nice dinner of antepasta and foccacia bread that Rachel baked herself. -- it's amazing, there is so much good food, so very readily available, and i eat much less, because i feel full so much faster. ALSO, i have had so very little soda (maybe 1/4 litre) since i've been here, and i really haven't had (much) of a problem without it!
for now, it's about 22.25, and i'm getting sleepy, so i'll leave it off here. tomorrow, we go to Oberhausen to see the steam/train museum.
tschuss!
we wandered around their mall (which is apparently VERY new, and a very new concept to germany) for about 45min but it was warm, and very crowded, because today is Rosenmontag. (a holiday. google it.)
so, we decided to wander around in the city itself. we went up and down several streets, admiring the architecture, and the ultra-pedestrian friendliness of it all. it was also nice to be out in the air, as today was one of the nicest days so far. it was warm, and the wind wasn't so
strong, either. it was perfect.
after a while, though, my back started hurting (again). the same place that hurt when i threw it out shoveling my neighbor's sidewalk. i've decided that once we get back to the states, i need to have the doctor look at it.
but i digress. we went back to the mall with the intention of sitting down for a while. we, however, found a watch shop and decided to look around for a bit. i found a watch for ~75€ but costs ~120€ back in the states (even on amazon!) and that doesn't include shipping for the states! so, i splurged. and i REALLY shouldn't have, but my watch back in the states is in need of repair, and i've already taken it to the fossil store TWICE to be repaired.
after being extravagant, we decided to head back home. waited for the bus, and had a lovely bus ride back to miriam's house. (the public transit here is SO impressively clean, quick, and dependable*)
*aside- the DE-Bahn is apparently striking ALL the time. and we learnt that tomorrow, when Rachel has to go back to Trier, she might have problems, because the workers voted by 97% to strike tomorrow. this is apparently very common, and a VERY much a headache to the folks here in DE.
we had a very nice dinner of antepasta and foccacia bread that Rachel baked herself. -- it's amazing, there is so much good food, so very readily available, and i eat much less, because i feel full so much faster. ALSO, i have had so very little soda (maybe 1/4 litre) since i've been here, and i really haven't had (much) of a problem without it!
for now, it's about 22.25, and i'm getting sleepy, so i'll leave it off here. tomorrow, we go to Oberhausen to see the steam/train museum.
tschuss!
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