The Black Forest

We have recently had school holidays, and I was lucky enough to go to Baden-Württemberg (the state to the left of Bavaria) with my host family and Balto (the dog) It was a long 6-hour caravan trip, and I found it so weird that dogs are pretty much allowed anywhere. All the time we would see them in restaurants, national parks, and caravan parks. The first couple of days of the holidays we were at home preparing for the trip. And with an early start at 9 on Monday morning, we were at Europa Park (a theme park) around 3 to 4 pm. We were planning to spend the day there Tuesday and Wednesday, but there were too many people and the traffic was horrendous. Instead, we went to the black forest, which was about a 2-hour drive from Europa park. It was a very old town, with heaps of historical buildings. There we also walked up alongside Germany’s highest waterfall, located directly on the Black Forest railway line. The waterfall has an overall drop of around 163 meters over 7 cascades. On the way up we were welcomed by squirrels. Because we don’t have them in Australia, I had never seen one before, so I’d always imagined them to be the size of a possum, but in reality, they are much smaller. We then had a quick look around the city and went through a few souvenir shops.

                                              Wednesday, November 1

In the morning, after having stayed the night at a new caravan park, we had a good look around. We saw the true beauty of a German forest. It was so magical it almost felt like I was in a fairy-tale. After having the traditional Schnitzel and Spezi (cola & Fanta mix) for lunch in a restaurant in the middle of a forest, we climbed up a small tower and looked out a whole 360 degrees from the top. There were beautiful mountain scapes in every direction, some snow-capped. It is heading into winter and the days are beginning to get shorter, it's started getting dark at 4:30 pm. We had to head off pretty quickly to beat the fading light. The sun was just beginning to set as we arrived at a mountain lake called Schluchsee. The water was so clear and shimmering in the last light of the day, that it left me in awe because I hadn’t seen anything so beautiful before

I would like to thank my host family for taking me on this amazing trip. I can’t wait for what's to come.

My Holidays in Germany

2 more exciting weeks have passed since I last wrote.

On Monday I visited a barber after school, which came as a surprise to many people when I walked into school!!

I enjoy finishing school at 12:50 but every day I regret staying up until after 11pm (I’m writing this at 11:54pm) the night before as we have to get up at 6am. Unfamiliar faces are now familiar faces, as I am getting to know people. 

For the last week it has been school holidays, and Vinzenz told me that I had to pack a bag for 4 days, but that he wasn’t allowed to tell me where we were going. I was very surprised and excited when I found out that we were going to Berlin (we were already in Munich by the time I found out). We caught a double decker bus at about 12:30am from Munich to Berlin, and we got to sit up the front on the top level, and it was so cool because I’d never been on a double decker bus.

We arrived at about 8:30am in the morning.  It was cold, and we walked around Berlin all day looking at lots of shops, the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church and the Rolls Royce dealership. We stayed in an Airbnb apartment for three nights, which had a creepy clown picture next to my bed.

Inside the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church

The second day was cold but I assume it gets much colder in winter. First we visited the Berlin Wall memorial, which was really eye opening to how hard it would have been for the people who were separated from each other. There was a wall of pictures of the people who were killed trying to cross the border. One of the most moving things I saw was a picture of a kid that was simply labelled “11.05.1970-11.05.1975”. It makes you question what went so wrong, that a kid had to die on his fifth birthday as opposed to playing pin the tail on the donkey and eating cake.

Next we went to the Brandenburg gate, and it was just as good as I expected. Then we went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Where there are thousands of concrete slabs all with different heights and a sloping floor. Suddenly the heavens opened up above us and we were subject to millions of raindrops. The weather made sure there weren’t many tourists, but also made it very powerful. One thing that I’ll never forget was seeing the raindrops slither down the side of one of the slabs and seeing the tears of the millions of Jewish people. Their last tears. The tears of their families and their friends and everyone that ever knew them.

After that we went to the Reichstag building (Parliament building) where we finally got to see blue sky.

The Brandenburg Gate

On the third day it was very cold, and we just cruised around. Out the front of some houses they have tiny plates of metal identifying the previous Jewish owners as well as when they were moved into concentration camps and killed. We went into the official Ampelmann shop and I bought a key ring. 

On our last day it was Halloween which apparently is a lot more popular in Berlin than in Wandiligong. We walked around the Spree River and went to a market and a museum. I’ve discovered that in Berlin there are lots of double decker buses.

Berlin Under Construction

Waking up whenever I want over the holidays has almost made me forget how tired I usually am. Thursday two weeks ago was Vinzenz’s Birthday, and just hours before I wrote this blog we went to the cinema as a present to Vinzenz. Vroni (his sister) bought me a large cola, which turned out to be 1.5 litres.

The first half of our exchange is over and I am looking forward to what the second half holds.

Oliver

Two watches priced at 79,250 euros and 70,150 euros

Stolpersteine - memorial plaques around Berlin

                                     

Brünnstein

The last few weeks have flown past, and the first half of the exchange is coming to an end. During the middle of October, my host family and I went hiking up a mountain called Brünnstein. It was a beautiful hike, with many stops along the way. We walked about 5 to 6 hours in total. We had lunch at the top and were left mesmerised by the phenomenal view. (It looks better in real life) You could see all the mountains in the distance covered in snow. Heading down took much longer, we took a single track in the middle of a forest, it was damp and muddy, which made it much more difficult.

The next week Simone, her sister and I went to Bad Aibling, to the Therme Indoor Pool, which is a big centre with lots of warm pools. There was an outside pool where you could relax, and close your eyes while the water pushed you around in a circle. It was very relaxing. We spent about 6 hours there before heading home.

The weather hasn’t been too good, for a couple of days it was very windy, like the sort of wind we would get when a storm is coming. Apparently it's normal to get wind like that regularly. Over the past 2 weeks, we have had days that have been beautiful, warm and sunny, and others cold, rainy and miserable. This coming week it is meant to snow almost down to ground level. There’s still another month left of autumn, yet it feels like the middle of winter!

Die ersten Wochen waren hart für mich, weil ich Bayerisch nur sehr schwer verstehen kann. Aber jetzt geht es schon besser. Aber ich habe immer noch Probleme mit Bayerisch, weil wir es nicht in der Schule lernen. Ich finde es leichter Deutsch zu verstehen als zu sprechen.

I look forward to the many more experiences still to come, and to learn more about the traditions and language.

I hope everything is okay back in Australia.