This morning I got up at 6:30 am, an hour and a half after sunrise, to meet up with my fellow study-abroadees for an "excursion" into the Eiffel region of beautiful North Rhine-Westphalia, Deutschland. At first I was rather reluctant to overcome my cynicisms of "excursions" - who wants to go see a bunch of random stuff with a bunch of random people and have no input to the schedule? However, I quickly realized that you can easily enjoy the guided tours, split with a smaller group, or be alone all together on your own schedule governed only by the bus' departure. So don't be afraid of excursions, I saw some absolutely beautiful things today and had a great time, despite my awkwardly large group.
I don't want to bore anyone so I will just comment briefly and let the pictures do their thousand words each.
Kloster Maria Laach
We began with mass at the Monastary of Mary Lake. If you're Catholic and you know it, clap
your hands, because this place represents! The monks here have devoted their life to God and live off the land, repair the Cathedral, and sell stonework and flowers to provide for their needs. The plethora of Latin with the baritone monk choir produced a very ancient aura.
Schloss Buerresheim
One of the few castles in the region to have survived the French Revolution, Buerresheim Castle is unique in that the northern half was constructed as a Burg, or fortification, in the 1400s, and the southern half was constructed as a Schloss, or Palace, over 300 years later. It had been passed down through families until 1932 and all of the furniture is original, some of it over 500 years old. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside but there was some amazing stuff.
Monreal
This little Ort, or town, was recognized as the most picturesque town in Germany. It's buildings are crammed together among narrow alleys and boast the traditional Fachwerk style. A river runs through the center of town, and a ruined Castle watches from atop the hill. Definitely the best stop of the day.
I learned two things today:
1. Germany is more beautiful and its history more alluring than I thought it would be.
2. No matter how many amazing things I hear and see, I can't help but wonder how much better it would be with some of you here. So those of you who at least have friends enough with you that every conversation is not surface oriented chit chat, enjoy them.
And skype me!
Auf Wiedersehen,
Thomas
p.s. does anyone remember the 20 word name that we almost had for the blog...?
Hope that's not too many pictures
4 comments:
woaaa! Tom that looks incredible. I want to go to picture 5. Oh my goodness, it's beautiful.
and no...not too many pictures.
never too many pictures!
looks like you are having an incredible time. see you soon
don't cry over spilled milk on the home keys, pangea.
Tommy Tom Tom Schweinsteiger! Those pictures are all breath-takingly beautiful man! You have successfully instilled a desire inside of me to now go to Germany sometime in my life. Keep em coming!
i love history
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