Top 10 Lists

So the other night I was thinking about the things that I like best about Germany after living here for almost a year as well as the things I like the least and decided to make a top 10 list for both. Here they are:

THE TOP 10 THINGS I LIKE LEAST ABOUT GERMANY:

10 The Simpsons auf Deutsch... the voices are all kinds of wrong and the jokes don't always translate.

9 The strange things they do to drinks... EVERYTHING is carbonated and sometimes they even mix Coke with wine or beer, and sometimes banana juice with beer... wtf?

8 All the paperwork and forms you have to fill out to do ANYTHING.

7 They expect you to pay a special fee for simply owning a TV or radio or pet.

6 No air conditioning on the University

5 The mysterious key you need to have to use many of the elevators... but nobody seems to know where or how you can get one.

4 No ice. If you ask for ice in your drink you get one tiny cube... if you ask for extra, you get 3.

3 No Mountain Dew

2 The grocery stores... long lines with one cashier and they ring everything up so fast and you better have a place to put your stuff as they throw it at you... no sackers or drive up service... oh how I miss Hy-vee.

1 Having to always pay to use the public bathroom!... it’s not the money, it’s the principle.


TOP 10 THINGS I LIKE THE BEST ABOUT GERMANY:

10 They don’t like the french either

9 Döner Kebobs... mmmm... lecker. Turkish, I know, but still... lecker.

8 The Autobahn

7 The bus system and Strassenbahns

6 The historic buildings, cathedrals and the beautiful Altstädte

5 The german people... less anal and more funny than the stereotype

4 The rail system

3 No FCC and all it’s moronic regulations... generally speaking, a more rationally governed society.

2 No fundamentalists or moral majority idiots screwing everything up politically... just the occasional mormon... from the states of course.

1 German beer!

Marburg

The other day I went to Marburg, home of Professor Lotz, and I have to say it’s one of the prettiest cities I’ve been to in Germany... although I have to also say that it’s by far the most difficult city for me to get around in. The Altstadt is situated on a really big hil (small mountain) and to see it you have to go up really steep slopes and stairs. They do actually have an elevator but it only takes you about 1/4 of the way up. Anyway, here’s a few pictures as I made my ascent:






I started following the signs towards the castle on the top of the hill but didn’t realize just how high it was. I just kept telling myself, “well I’ve come this far, I might as well keep going”. But the last leg was by far the most difficult... trust me, it was steeper than it looks.

Finally the castle is within sight:

and at last I summit the mountain. Here’s the view from above:



It took me the better part of the afternoon to climb Everest so I didn’t have time to do much else but make my way down (much easier going down). But I did make sure to stop by the famous Cafe Vetter.

Stuttgart

On tuesday I went to Stuttgart... despite the heat -- and it’s actually a really nice town. I walked down Königstraße which is the main street that leads from the trainstation to the Schloßplatz. You can see it here:

And here is the famous Schloßplatz, including a short video:







And here’s the church on the Schillerplatz:



There’s also a really nice park right next to the Schloßplatz. Here’s a few pictures.



I also took a litte video on the train. I thought it might be interesting to see what it’s like to ride the trians over here... much nicer than Amtrak. Here’s some video from around Heidelberg:



Tomorrow I’m going to Marburg and I’ll post pictures soon.

Wir Sind Helden

Last night Esther and I went to the Wir Sind Helden (we are heroes) concert. They are a really popular band right now but I don’t think they’re very well known outside of germany... possibly because they sing in german unlike many german bands. It was an outdoor concert and the weather was absolutely perfect. The opening band was an indy band from New York called “we are scientists” and they were pretty good too. The audio didn't turn out so good but here's a few videos:





Here’s a few pictures:




I'll post some videos from the concert soon.

In other concert news there was a huge summer fest party on campus last week. The whole campus was litterally one big party. There was a main stage at one end of campus where a number of really good bands played. Then there were two smaller stages with more bands plus a huge tent with a DJ. And also each of the main dormitory buildings has hosted their own party over the past few weekends as a way to help people from different dormitories get to know each other. Why don't we have anything like this at KU... or any university for that matter? They could easily build a big stage on Wescoe beach and have a university wide party. Why not?

Speyer

I just got back from Speyer which is a medium sized town to the south of Mainz on the Rhein. It actually turned out to be a really nice city and well worth a visit. Here’s the famous Kaiserdom zu Speyer. It was built between 1030 and 1124.



Here's a short video of the Dome:


Here’s the inside:


Including the creepy crypt in the basement full of really old dead people:


Behind the Dome there’s a really nice park that leads to the Rhein. Here’s a few pics along the way.


And here’s the Rhein:


I then walked back through the other part of the town full of shopping and restaurants.




And a couple of other nice cathedrals:





Well tomorrow I’m going to a Wir Sind Helden concert and I’ll try and take some video. And next week I’m going to try and visit Marburg and Stuttgart. I’ve realized how little time I have left and I’ve got to make the most of it.