‘Ello , Gov’na! Writing to you today from jolly olde England! We started our trip yesterday at 12:00 pm CST by picking Dad up and heading to the airport. Andrew drove us to the airport and even came in to say goodbye (*tear*). Our flight from Madison was at 2:08 pm CST, which got us in to Chicago around 2:50 pm CST. Our flight left Chicago at 4:18 pm CST. There is a six-hour time difference between Madison and London – so the seven hour and 37 minute flight got us to London about 5:30 am local time. The flight was pretty smooth. We even got free dinner! (Notice I didn’t say “tasty” dinner, but at least it was free J)
I had the “pasta” and Dad had the “chicken” – no other identifiers need be added, there weren’t many other discernable flavors to be had. The triple chocolate brownie was very good though.
Neither Dad nor I slept too much – we were right by the galley so the flight attendants kept us awake, but the flight went by quickly at least. We ate breakfast on the plane – strawberry yogurt and juice.
After taxiing to the terminal, we took about a half hour winding our way through the airport, and then on to customs. We passed with flying colors – no surprise! then headed to the Underground terminal that was conveniently located inside the airport. The Piccadilly Line connected to the District Line at Hammersmith took us to the Victoria Station and so now here we are at The Grosvenor Thistle Victoria Hotel just a short few blocks away on Buckingham Palace Road!
Or, at least we would have been if it hadn’t been just barely after 8 o’clock in the morning…
Check-in time was two p.m. so we left our bags with the concierge and hit the town.
Buckingham Palace Road is not just the street address to our hotel, of course – there’s another pretty famous residence here. A short walk up the street afforded us our first view of the palace of Queen Elizabeth II, complete with guards and padlocked gates.
The flag was up, so she must be in – probably still recovering from Prince William and Princess Catherine’s nuptials.
Next, we worked our way back through the “parade route” of April 29, 2011 and found Westminster Abbey.
No photography inside, of course, ahem, Dad! J but, we did do the short version of the walking tour, with stops at Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and Poet’s Corner, of course! Honestly, some of the smaller burial chambers were sort of creepy - the oldest dating to the 12th century or older, and of the “other notable internments” Geoffrey Chaucer was buried there in 1400 himself. It was a beautiful church though – and it was great to see it in person.
London may be sprawling but since most of the landmarks have been around since it wasn’t – another short jaunt up the road brought us to Big Ben.
From there, since we’d been meandering in that direction anyway – we got back on the Tube and headed toward the Tower of London.
We didn’t actually go into the Tower, which was a bummer, but there were enough placards to read and coupled with my previous knowledge – we did okay. The Tower was originally Norman and held London’s thieves, crooks, murderers and even royalty – over the course of its long history.
Next, the DLR train took us out to Greenwich to see the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian, which of course – we stood on at noon! J Now, just to prove what a big dork I am – I’ve been TWO places Ben Affleck (as CT Granville) has been, doing the exact same things in both spots! J When I have internet access – I’ll hopefully add a link to a video explaining this to those who don’t understand… J
This brings us current. Dad’s had some time to freshen up and now we’ll hopefully head back out to see The Globe Theater! Dinner’s still at 6 at Foxtrot Oscar too!
I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more! It's a need of mine, to walk 5000 miles and fall down at Gordon Ramsey's doo-oooor!
You recognize that one? Maybe without that bit about Gordon Ramsey? Well, I feel like we walked ALL over London last night and just could NOT find Foxtrot Oscar! I was pretty bummed, but we ended up eating a a small local place called Rising Sun, and I *think* we had good, and representative samples of British Cuisine... Dad had fish and chips
And I had Steak and Horseradish Pie with peas and mash. The name alone made me want to order it! :)
So, we ended up having "real people" food - which, in a lot of ways, is better. I still want to eat in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant though!!
Prior to (not) having our (intended) dinner, we had left the hotel around 3:00 pm local - on our way to The Globe Theater! Well, we got lost on the way there too - and you know, it's not the Tube - that's easy - it's the streets that jut out at strange angles or only go one way - those are what mess me up! Anyway, so knowing that we were meant to be at a restaurant at 6:00 pm, I knew we didn't have a lot of time at the globe. But, you can still see the original theater (well, the rebuilt one at least - since they replaced it after the fire of 1613 of course) within the walls of the current structure. The theater itself is still open on the top as it was then, and tonight they were preparing for a play later in the evening so it wasn't open to those without a ticket... but I did get to wander around the informational areas and the gift shop :)
I'm pretty excited - I got a reprint of the Much Ado folio and a cool timeline print to frame with the dates of the play's authorship compared with the events of Shakespeare's live and the happenings of London as well. It is interesting to see how they play off each other and work together.
Well, I really should get organized for our Chunnel Ride To France Tomorrow Morning! :)
Ta-ta for now, I leave you with that "lovely sooty air" of London clouding your brains and tricking your eyes.
9:00 pm, local
Bonsoir, mes amis! Je suis à Paris et il a été un grand jour!
Just kidding, I doubt I could keep that up all post! :) Though, we are in Paris and it was a great day! I should go back to the beginning of the day - to get caught up...
So, as you know, last night we stayed at The Grosvenor Thistle Victoria in London, England. Our train to Paris left the station at 8:27 this morning, so we left the hotel around 7 just to be on the safe side.
Our train left from platform 7, not 9 3/4 -- so I had no difficulty getting there, no running through brick walls for us...
The train had a dining car, luckily, because we'd had no time for breakfast - jus d'orange, croissants, et pain au chocolate sont très bons!
Trains are awesome, by the way. Fast, friendly - and you can enjoy the countryside as you wiz by! It was a two and a half hour trip, so with the time change, we got to Gare du Nord (the Paris train Station) just before noon. After arriving, we caught a taxi and went right to our hotel - Timhotel Place d'Italie.
Of course we wanted to make the most of the day, so we left right away and headed for another whirlwind tour. First, we went to the Hôtel National des Invalides and briefly saw the Musée de l'Armée.
From there, we could see La Tour Eiffel - so we thought that should be our next stop. :)
We didn't go to the top, the line was far too long - but, to quote Dad - it's a good thing they didn't tear it down after the World's Fair... that would have been a bummer.
Next, in our meandering way, we grabbed a photo of the Arc de Triomphe, crossed the Siene and followed Rue de New York down to the Jardin de Tulierres, which was in serious need of a dust-reduction, and the Louvre.
We actually didn't get inside the Louvre - too close to closing time, though honestly, I think we would have had time to make it to see the Mona Lisa at least - but the lady at the ticket counter didn't agree with me... Oh well, c'est la vie.
Next stop, Notre Dame. Again, we didn't go inside, but based on our previous behavior - what do you expect at this point? :)
Let me tell you, the dogs were way past barking at this point, so we took a taxi back to the hotel. We had planned to ask at reception where we should eat dinner - some nice little Parisian café - but the place they recommended had already stopped serving dinner. No worries, resourcefulness won out and we found the Café de France just down the street!
Pavé de rumsteak grillé sauce béarnaise, salade et frites. Et, le café pour le dessert.
So, it wasn't boeuf bourguignon - but it was at least French!
Short walk back to the hotel and in for the night. I'm sitting here thinking of all the folks that we'll meet up with tomorrow in Germany sitting on airplanes all night...
Bonsoir!
2:50 pm local.
Hello! I'm sitting in the lobby/restaurant of the Hotel Ibis in Mainz, Germany because that's where I have to sit to get free internet. These:
however, are not free... but they're cute and they're tasty so I have one.
This morning, our train from Paris to Mannheim, Germany and then on to Mainz left at 7:04 am, so we had to get up around 5!
The ride from Paris to Germany was about 3.5 hours long and had a few stops along the way.
We changed trains in Mannheim, and then had another 30 minute or so ride to Mainz. We took a taxi to our hotel once realizing it would be a really long walk - and got here around lunch time. The hotel has a snack bar in the lobby, so we decided to eat lunch here before heading out to wander the area. Dad and I both had Tagessupe mit Brot (soup of the day [a thick, cream-based spring onion] with bread) - it was very good!
After lunch, we hit the town with map in hand! We headed over to the "old part" and poked around the Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum Mainz, though the museum was closed today. We also walked along the Rhine River, which was nice - though a bit smelly.
Back at the hotel, Dad's upstairs transferring photos and I'm writing to you! :)
We will meet up with the group this evening at 5:30 pm and have dinner at a nearby restaurant - which I'll update you on later.
Dad and I were commenting earlier that after the ridiculously fast pace of the last few days - now that we're on the "real" trip, it really will seem like a vacation! We will have a fair amount of free time in each city so we will be able to explore a lot on our own too. Really looking forward to it!
I'll leave you now.
9:48 pm local.
This evening we met up with the official members of the Librarian's Tour of Germany in the lobby of our hotel. At about 5:40 pm we headed up the street and ate dinner at DeVito Italian Restaurant. I had the Spaghetti Gorgonzola which had a light gorgonzola cream sauce, black olives and tomatoes over spaghetti, and Dad had Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce - just your basic spaghetti, really.
And... Tiramisu! In Germany! And it was good! :)
After dinner, we had a leisurely walk back to the hotel where we found out - breakfast is included in our room rate!
Then we parted ways.
Dad and I walked back down to the Rhine River and took some photographs, what else! :)
Tomorrow morning we meet for a walking tour of Mainz and a visit to the Gutenberg Museum.
Auf Wiedersehen!
10:23 pm local.
I didn't bring my camera down to the lobby with me, so you'll have to forgive me this very non-pictoral post - I'll upload photos tomorrow, though.
This morning, we met in the lobby at 9:30 am for a walking tour of Mainz, and a trip to the Gutenberg Museum. Our guide, Johanna, was very knowledgeable and a great speaker and told us a ton of very interesting things about the city. One thing we'd noticed was the street signs - on each corner, one sign is always blue and one is always red. We though, hmmm - pretty! and kept walking. Apparently there's a reason behind this though. Johanna told us that many residents claim this goes back to Napoleon. In Germany, to "be blue" means to be drunk, so they think that he commissioned the red and blue street signs to direct his soldiers back to the barracks. If they were drunk, they could just follow the blue streets back to their quarters. But, this is not entirely true - first, she told us that the blue and red signs have been in uses since about 1920. The idea was that if you were drunk, you should stay on the blue streets because they run parallel to the Rhine River - if you stayed on them, you'd never accidentally fall into the water! :) You've got to love a city that looks out for it's citizens like that!!
After our walking tour, we went to the Gutenberg Museum where we saw two of the 21 Gutenberg Bibles that are still in existence. Johanna also demonstrated the press - which was really cool to see in action. I took video of that entire demo, which I will hopefully be able to upload at some point.
After our tour ended, we had free time for the rest of the day! Tomissa and I finally got to have coffee together! ... and shopping time, and pizza, and Haribo Gummies, and more shopping, and photo ops, and great conversation, and more shopping! It was a really fun day!! This city is really beautiful and there seems to always be something going on. We walked through the square in front of the Cathedral at least a dozen times and each time - we saw something different. There were street musicians, a farmers market, more musicians - it was great!
We met back up with the group at 7:00 pm for dinner at Der Augustinerkeller. I had Spargelcremesuppe - a cream based white asparagus soup and Schweineschnitzel in Pfeffersauce with fries. Spargel - the white asparagus - is a local delicacy. The asparagus is kept completely underground while it's growing so it doesn't turn green. It's flavor is basically like green asparagus, but a bit milder and more earthy. It has a very short - only late April to the 24th of June (St. John's Day) - so it's usually pretty expensive. It's one of those things they tell you that you "have" to eat if you're here in May - so like a good tourist, I did!
After dinner, Tomissa and I went to get some gelato. I know, I know - we're not in Italy - but gelato is just as good here! They prepare it in a strange way though - they basically put it through a potato ricer and so it looks like spaghetti! (Think play-doh....) It was a-mazing, but I'm glad I had someone to share it with... VERY full today!!
I'm still sitting in the lobby bar - and there are about a dozen guys watching football (soccer) here... it's funny to listen to them - I can't see the screen, but I can tell just what's going on just from the tone of the announcer and the yells the audience is emitting :)
And so now, it's off to bed with me. Early morning tomorrow - we're going to the City Archives!
And I promise, no block-text posts tomorrow! :)
10:38 pm local.
This morning, we met for breakfast and then headed to the Stadtbibliothek Stadtarchiv (Mainz City Library and Archive) and had a talk with Ramona, one of the archivists there. They are responsible for all the city's records in this archive and have many items dating back to before the 1000's. We saw one charter that was so well preserved though - and all this without climate controlled vaults!
The seals on the bottom represent the different clergy that endorsed the charter - which allowed a lessening of the tax Jewish citizens of Mainz were required to pay.
This archive has everything from the mundane - minutes from council meetings:
To war propaganda and ration notes:
To Napoleon's signature!
Ramona was very knowledgable and a great speaker - it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between US and German archives.
On the way out, we stopped in to the library as well. We were trying to figure out the classification system in use - but couldn't really. Meredith and Jane mentioned that there is a European standard for classification but I've yet to have time to read up on it.
After the archive tour, we had the rest of the day to ourselves again. Bridget, Dad and I walked over to the Neue Synagoge. It was built in 2010, in a modern style. The building's architecture actually spells out a Jewish liturgical term Kedushah (קדושה) which means in German : blessing for "sanctification" and "increase".
I couldn't get a photo of the whole building, but the word wraps around the entire facade.
Afterwards, we walked back towards the Old City center and stumbled upon the ruins of a Temple of Isis in the basement of a mall. Actually, when they were excavating for the mall - they found these ruins and luckily were able to preserve them.
Another site on the list for today was the Marc Chagall windows in St. Stephan's church. Only a few of the windows in the church were actually created by him, the rest being finished after his death.
These are his though:
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion - wandering and shopping! :) And... I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks!! They're a lot less expensive here - of course - since they're made in Germany and they're super comfy!! I feel so... granola! :)
We went to the Gasthausbrauerei Eisgrub-Bräu for dinner - and I had the very traditional German dish called "Rigatoni Gorgonzola" :) I just couldn't handle another round of deep fried pork tonight... sorry... I did have a drink I've only seen in Germany though - Sprezi. It's Coke mixed with Fanta... quite good actually! :)
This is is our last night in Mainz - and I will miss it! We've had a great time here so far - but tomorrow we're on to Stuttgart. Our train leaves bright and early, and hopefully we'll have free internet there too, so I can keep up with all of you!
Gute Nacht, schlaf gut und träum süß! (I hope I said that right... either that, or I'm sorry for insulting your mother... she's a lovely woman... :) )
Good night!
10:55 pm local time.
This morning we caught an early train from Mainz to Stuttgart to start the second leg of our journey.
Stuttgart is not as architecturally interesting as Mainz - less idyllic, if you will - but it is a great city! There is a lot of history here even though the buildings aren't very old on the whole. Most of the city was bombed out during World War II, and has since been rebuilt - in the modern style, of course! But there are still a lot of great historical buildings as well, like King Wilhelm II's Palace:
So, after wandering around for a while - we went to the Hochschule der Medien (Library School) in Stuttgart. The director, a member of the International studies/relations, and three of the students (two in the BA program and one in the Master's) each spoke about their experiences with the school and about how libraries work in Germany. The presentation was very interesting, as the differences between library school, academic libraries, and public libraries here in Germany and back in the US are much greater then the differences we saw in the comparison of archives. I won't bore you with all my thoughts here - but I'll probably make a post at some point on my library-related blog about it! :)
The afternoon was free, and Tomissa and I went to the Steiff Gallery (don't want to give anything away, but Addison and Delanie will be getting VERY awesome gifts when I get back to the states!)
This evening for dinner, we met up with the staff and students from the Library School again. They were great company! It was fun to get to pick their brains about how libraries operate here in Germany and about how library school differs as well. Contact information was exchanged and it will be great to keep in touch with them!
Well, that's about all we have time for tonight, folks! Thanks for tuning in - we'll be back tomorrow - same librarian time, same librarian station! :) Good night!
10:36 pm local.
Loving Stuttgart more every day! This morning, we met for a tour of the State Archive where we saw more charters, and some very beautiful hand painted maps.
We were also given a tour of their preservation department and conservation lab, which was really cool. They had examples of some of the worst damage they've seen - of course, they can't really "fix" this stuff, just "maintain" it... but some of it was really bad!
Book worms
This damage is actually from the ink
Mice
Can you say brittle pages? Stat cat: unrepairable!
Looks like something from Google... :)
water damage
Book worms!
The lab tech mentioned that one can't really "focus" on preservation work as a student, like they can in the states - if you wanted to work in a lab, you would get that experience through internships and practicums instead.
After the tour we had lunch at the Music School's cafeteria - which was a lot better then it may sound :) Since folks get a lot longer for lunch here - the food there isn't like what we see at home - "fast food" if you will, but rather everything from soups and sandwiches to full meals. And, it tastes much better then "cafeteria food" too!
We had a break before the next tour, so we headed to the Public Library. And... I got my library card!!! I think I should frame it with a picture of me in the library and put it next to my Puerto Rican library card :)
At 2:00 pm, we met again to tour the State Library's Rare Books. They had a Gutenberg Bible!! So, we finally got to take pictures of it! :)
And… something else you may have heard of... the first folio? :)
After the tour, we were free for the rest of the day. We didn't get to see too much because it started to rain just before dinner - so we were just ducking in an out of stores basically. Dinner was pizza bread and coke from the grocery store followed by heavenly Schokolade (chocolate) ice cream from an Eis-cafe we found in the mall. Great end to the day!
So, today was our last full day in Stuttgart. Tomorrow we'll take a day trip to Tübingen which is about an hour's train ride away - then Sunday we're on to Munich! Amazing how quickly this trip is going!
11:28pm local.
It's a late one tonight! Today we took a day trip to Tübingen, Germany. Upon arrival, we toured the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (German-American Institute, or DAI) This non-profit organization was started just after World War II to foster positive relationships of education and communication between the US and Germany. They offer English classes and lectures on life in the US. There is a library of English-language materials as well, which we toured. The shelves are original, and were purchased by the Americans that set up the organization originally!
They use Dewey for the non-fiction there, so it was all very familiar.
After the tour of DAI, we wandered around the "Old Town" in Tübingen, which was picturesque and just as idyllic as Mainz. (Sort of a nice change of pace from Stuttgart! :) )
In the afternoon, we met back up for a tour of the University of Tübingen's library. The person who designed their library also designed the train station in Stuttgart - which is under controversy right now because they want to redo it to allow trains to pass all the way through instead of having to stop in Stuttgart and then back out to go around the city.
The painting in the library's reading room (above) is from the Odyssey. The director, who gave us the tour, said that the painter chose this scene of the dead being call back to the world of the living because it represented the books (old, dead things) being brought back to life by the library - to rejoin the world of the living (to be used in new ways). Pretty cool, huh?
After the tour, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We spent it walking around the beautiful town and of course taking loads of pictures!
Our train back to Stuttgart left at 8:37 pm, and arrived around 9:40 pm, so we didn't get back to the hotel till around 10 pm. Since we're leaving for Munich in the morning - we all need to pack! And sleep!
That's my queue, good night folks!
10:15 pm local.
Hello!
We are in Munich now for the last leg of our trip, but wifi is very expensive in the hotel. I am currently paying about one euro per thirty minutes of internet use at an internet cafe in the train station... perhaps later in the week I will have a chance to get to a Starbucks that has free wifi... we shall see!
I will continue to write my posts each day and hopefully have a chance to post them later in the week.
I also cannot get on facebook because I cannot read my security question in German... but honestly, this is the first technology issue we have encountered on the trip, so I would say we are doing quite well!
Okay, I should go - I do not want to use up all my euros in one night, just in case! :)
Auf wiedersehen!!
10:54 pm local
Prost!
This morning we left Stuttgart and took the train to Munich for the last leg of our journey. The train ride took about two hours, and it was one of the trains that stopped in every little town.
We got to Munich and checked in to our hotel, then tried to go to the BMW Museum and Olympic Park. But, when we went to the train station, the ticket lady didn’t have much English and we thought that the trip was going to cost about nine euro per ticket plus about five or maybe eight euro to get in to the park – so Tomissa and I decided that we didn’t want to spend almost 30 US dollars for about two hours of entertainment. Dad and Bridgett went anyway – turns out later, that nine euro was for a group ticket (covers up to five people) and the museum and park were free! Bummer! But, at least, we can look at Dad’s pictures J
So, Tomissa and I wandered around. Most every store and library is closed on Sundays in Bavaria, so there was no shopping or anything, but there were a ton of street musicians and performers to watch.
We met back up with the group for dinner at the Hoffbrau Haus, which is a historical beer hall here in Munich. That was a ton of fun! There were two live bands and dancing and Radler! J Radler is a combination of beer (mine was honey weiss) and lemon-lime soda. Takes care of the “after taste” that I don’t like, and is actually quite refreshing. I’ve been told it’s a bit like the Leinenkugle’s Summer Shandy, so I’ll have to try that when I get back to the States. For dinner, I had something called “Noodles” on the English menu… It was a linguini-style noodle with a “minced meat and vegetable sauce” – very good!
After dinner, we went down to the main hall for another beer. Good times, great beer – I can see why everyone loves Munich!
8:41 pm local.
TGFS!! (Thank God for Starbucks!) Well, I should say - thank god for Starbuck's free wifi!! :)
This morning, we met for breakfast and walked to the Bavarian State Library and got a tour of their whole facility.
They had about 80% of their building damaged in World War II, and they lost a lot of items. They took us through the preservation department as well - which Penny would have loved! :)
After the tour, we had the afternoon and evening to ourselves. Tomissa and I walked around, hitting up Tiffany's and a bunch of other great stores - including the 7-floor book store right across the street from the Town Hall with the famous glockenspiel.
And.... we found the Munich Google Office! :)
I sorta wanted to knock on the door and be like - hey I sorta work for you, can I eat in your cafeteria? :)
Sorry - running out of internet time - dinner was at the Hard Rock Cafe and tomorrow we're going to Crazy King Ludwig's castles - hopefully we'll make it back here tomorrow night for more free internet!! :)
Good night!
I'm stealing teh internets at Starbucks - can't get the posts up right now though - I'll post everything once I'm home from the last few days... We'll be back in Wisco around 7:00 pm local time tomorrow - See you all soon!
May 31, 2011 - Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castles
Today we took a day trip to the Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castles, which were both built for King Ludwig II. Our group joined a bus tour company for the day, which was a very nice way to see both castles. First, our bus stopped at Linderhof Castle. We were on a guided tour of the castle and on a very strict timeline because of the bus company, so we didn’t have much time to wander around the grounds – but we got a few pictures outside. The layout of the gardens actually reminded me a bit of Schonbrun Palace in Austria – but much of the inside was modeled after Versailles because Ludwig was a big fan of Louis XVI – the Sun King. The inside was actually pretty small – though I guess that’s expected from an 19th century residence – but our group was so big it was hard to see everything we were meant to see.
Our second stop was actually a shopping stop in the town of Oberammergrau that had a lot of locally made, really German things – like cuckoo clocks and hand carved Christmas ornaments et cetera. And... I got a Hummel! Couldn't resist - it's called barnyard and it's adorable!
There was a bit of a drive to our third stop. The second castle, Neuschwanstein, was Ludwig’s “fairy tale castle” made in a medieval style. This place was like Disneyland! It was never finished – Ludwig died unexpectedly at the age of 40 – but what was done, was amazing. Actually, “unexpectedly” is a big of an understatement – apparently, he was deemed “crazy” and then next day he was taken to another castle near Munich. The next day, he took a walk to the lake with his physician and neither came back alive. Something like 16 days later – his unfinished Neuschwanstein Castle was opened to the public for tours and viewing… I’m sure that’s just due course, right? :)
After the castle tours, we drove back to Munich and had dinner on our own. We ended up going to the Ratskeller! (Notice the lack of the “h”…) I had that “German pizza” with the sour cream, bacon and chives.
June 1, 2011 – Nuremberg, Germany
Today we took a day trip to Nuremberg with the ultimate goal of visiting the Albrecht Durer House and Museum. Albrecht Durer was an artist that created prints with copper etchings, woodcarvings and the Gutenberg Press. They conducted the tours of the house and a demonstration of the process of his art. Our tour guide was “Albrecht’s wife, Agnes!” I love those kinds of tours – where the tour guide is in character! She told us a lot of personal stories sprinkled in with some good ol’ gossip, like a good housewife would!
Free time rounded out our day – and Dad and I decided to go to the toy museum. We were actually on our way to the Fire Brigade Museum, but we got lost and found the toy museum instead. Happy mistake, that place was fun!
We had to take the train back to Munich at the end of the day, and then since it was our last night together as a group – we went out to dinner one last time. Jane made reservations for us at a restaurant that served pretty much everything – but not a lot of German food. I ended up having another version of the sparglesuppe (not a cream one this time) and a potato gnocci dish that was absolutely fantastic! Everyone said their first round of goodbyes and exchanged their (mostly) sincere offers of “a place to stay, if you’re ever in town.” Watching everyone, it was clear that we would all miss each other and that we all had a great time.
After dinner, we all went back to the hotel to pack. Most of us are heading home tomorrow, though some are staying in Germany (or other countries) for as much as another week! I think if I were staying, I’d be glad to be done with the tour portion. It’s been a lot of fun, but it will be very nice to be home again. Summer is my favorite time of year of course – but this one will be a very busy one, and will go by quickly. I’m thinking that fall will become my new favorite season though J
June 2, 2011 – On the road again…
It’s currently 6:42 pm in Germany, and 11:42 am in Madison… and I’m somewhere over Newfoundland. I have no idea what time it is in Newfoundland… J
We left the hotel at about 9:00 am local time this morning and took the 45 minute S-bahn ride to the airport. Tomissa came to the airport with us, since our flights were so close together – we thought we’d share a group ticket. Once we got to the airport, we went our separate ways though, since Tomissa was on British Airways and we stuck with United.
Now, we’ve gone 3242 miles according to the map on our personal, in-seat television screens (apparently United heard how much people liked those :))
I’ve read, watched Black Swan, ate more airplane lasagna, watched Letters to Juliet and now I’ve just about finished my travel blog! I’ve been thinking about what I’ll write for my paper for the “class” I just took and there are a lot of things running through my mind. The overall library system is not really that much different then the system in the US, but there are a lot of things I want to explore in further depth.
I’ll definitely post the final paper on my “library blog” but I’m sure I’ll put a link on here as well. Only seems fair!
Back to reading now!
June 3, 2011 – Madison, WI
Alright, you're all caught up! We had an easy flight from Chicago to Madison and Andrew picked us up at the airport around 7 pm. I decided to take today off to try to catch up on the amazing lack of sleep I had yesterday and was pretty successful - slept for over 12 hours! :)
Now, it will be a busy summer - but I'm already counting down to my next vacation, our honeymoon!!
See you all in Sedona! :)
