Spain and such

Just a few pics of my weekend trip in Cardiz, Spain. Journal entry coming soon...

10/21/05 Chocolate Fountain at the Imhoff Stollwerk Museum. To the left are the wafers that a worker dipped into the chocolate to hand out.

10/16/05 FC Koln vs Hannover 76. This is the stadium where the World Cup games will be played in Germany.

10/16/05 Tiffany, Nathaniel, Myself, Maxi, Megan and Denise at the FC Koln vs Hannover 76 soccer game. Unfortunatly our team lost in a near shutout game of 1-5. In Germany there are two leagues, a lower and upper level. Each year the winner of the lower championship moves up to the upper level- which was Koln this year, so they are at the bottom the upper league.

Adam, Mat, Zack, Mark, Myself and Nathaniel at the Chocolate Museum. 10/21/05 This museum even had it's own mini-chocolate factory- but alas, no Umpa-Lumpas!

New updates!!

Well as usual, it has been a struggle getting posts up online. The Woyton Cafe where I can use my laptop has a really crappy wireless connection- but at least it is free! The pictures are out of order but I will be going back tomorrow or Tuesday- I just keep getting disconnected every 15 minutes or so. I also enabled comments so feel free to leave any. Enjoy!!

Chris

Random bar after dinner with the group of Canadians and Austrailians I met while at the Sachsenhausen tour. This bartender was really great, even giving us all a few free shots each!

The Catholic Church in Berlin... Only 5 Euros to get in, wasn't worth it to me...

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Our Irish tour guide in Berlin. This was set up as a free tour, but he was so animated and so knowledgable we had to tip. We covered a lot of ground in Berlin in the 4 hours with him. I also met two older women from Ireland that I subesequently met at another tour the next day at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Orienburg.

The original "Checkpoint Charlie"

A shot of our hostel room... shared between two guys and four girls... Only 22 Euros a night with a free buffet breakfast.

Our hostel... I always thought that hostels were reserved only for student travelers, but here the residents mainly consisted of families and elderly couples. It was kind of a disapointment because I was hoping to meet a few people my age.

Berlin Wall marker embedded in the sidewalk.

US Army Checkpoint between East and West Berlin. "Checkpoint Charlie"

A recreation of the sign each West Berlin vistor saw upon arrival. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is to the left, but our tour guide said that it wasn't worth the money to visit.

Nathaniel and I at Checkpoint Charlie. This has really just been turned into a tourist destination, but it was worth the picture. Nothing of this site is original, and we even had to pay to get our photo here with the actors dressed in the costumes.

Berlin: "Topography of Terror"

Berlin: A view of the canal just around the corner from the Berlin Youth Hostel. There wasn't really much within walking distance, so we had to take the bus everywhere.

Berlin Wall....artwork devoted to the preservation of history and not just forgetting about the past.

Berlin Wall....artwork devoted to the preservation of history and not just forgetting about the past.

Berlin Wall....artwork devoted to the preservation of history and not just forgetting about the past. I'll try and get a translation soon.

Berlin: Topography of Terror. This portion of the Museum follows the procession of the Nuremburg Trials from start to finish. Above, the speakers had actual recordings from the trials. Fortunately, this was in English as well as German.

Berlin: A portion of a free outdoor museum exibit titled "Topography of Terror". This museum documents what lead up to the war and the subsequent Nuremburg Trials. Two points that have really rang clear to me while touring the museums in Germany; the personalization of the victims- not just numbers, and the effects of blindless following and the disasterous results that follow. This portion was only in German, so I mainly went through by looking at the pictures.

Berlin: A view of the canal just around the corner from the Berlin Youth Hostel. There wasn't really much within walking distance, so we had to take the bus everywhere.

Berlin Wall....artwork devoted to the preservation of history and not just forgetting about the past.

A mother and her teenage son that she couldn't save from the ravages of war... he was 15 when he wanted to join, much to the displeasure of his mother, and was killed 2 weeks into it. This monument signifies how she was unable to protect her only son...

A little time....

Just sitting in an internet cafe for a bit before I head over to my first fitness class at the Köln University. Looking to make a few new friends in the area, I just hope I can find the place tonight! Not much today, went to class as usual, had a german meatloaf with a fried egg on top and hash browns at the student cafeteria and did a little homework in Woyton Cafe. I tried a bannana chocolate yougurt smoothie today mixed with ice... quite disgusting, so I will stick to my black coffee when I go back next time.

Just a few observations and random thoughts... everyone seems to smoke, and as soon as someone stops another lights up another. It is also getting darker much earlier, which is also kind of a bummer, it would be nice to sit out in the park longer to do my homework.....looking at my lonely planet book on Italy I am starting to wonder how I am going to pull of back packing alone for a few days given that I don´t speak Italian...I miss my cds at home every time I hear a store playing something I have.... I wish I could get online anytime I want.....Reisdorf Kölsch is the best beer....Bannana Weisen is too heavy to even finish....Mango and Pilsner actually tasted pretty good....I am still going back and forth on whether to come back to Germany for an intensive language course.... I am glad it looks like that I will have a job when I get back....I wish the exchange rate was better....I get to move into a larger room tonight with my own kitchen and bathroom...and lastly, I wish Rochester had public transportation like they have here in Köln.

Chris

ctytin23@yahoo.com

Berlin...

http://www.deviantart.com/view/10628183/

Berlin updates coming soon as well as a few more older blogs... time has been going by so fast that I have been here and it is sometimes hard to sit back and write down my experiences. Postcards coming out soon too, email your addresses ctytin23@yahoo.com if you would like one! Things are going great so far and I will probably start my first fitness class today to meet some new people.

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."--T. E. Lawrence