Photos are posted on my Flickr page from my visit to Eva's home city of Leipzig. I really enjoyed the visit and her parents were very kind to host me.

Grit and I took a trip to Erfurt on Saturday, August 30th to meet Ute and do some shopping. Erfurt is a beautiful city and had lots of great shops!

I stayed over at Ute's house Saturday night and spent Sunday sightseeing with her family and our friends Marco and Janine. The first photo is Janine, Marco and Ute standing a wall around a church in the center of Erfurt.

As we walked through the city we came to a unique street of shops and houses that was actually a bridge! The photo below shows a view from the river-side of the street and you can see the houses. I saw a similar image on lots of postcards since this is a very unique thing to Erfurt.

Ute's husband Andre and her daughter Paulina met us for ice cream. Here Paulina is trying on my sunglasses--I think they are a bit big!

Our next stop was the Petersburg Fort. We took a torch-lighted tour through the underground walkways of the fort. This was interesting! It was pitch-black below and without the torch we would have been lost. More photos are on my Flickr site and I took lots of photos from the wall of the fort --it was a great view of the entire city!

Bremen (71), originally uploaded by deniseakob.
At the end of June I took a trip to Germany to visit the Kostka family (Joel, Beth, Laurel, & Lilly). Bremen was a great place to visit with lots of interesting things to see. My first night there we had dinner with Heath, Jen, & Jordan Mills and a British family that Joel and Beth know from a visit to Berlin.

On Saturday, we went to Universum (a science center) with all of the kids--this is my favorite way to visit a science center because I can play on all of the exhibits with the kids! Universum was the best science center--and everything was in German! We all really enjoyed it. That afternoon/evening we walked around downtown Bremen and saw the marketplace and the glockenspiel. The glockenspiel or 'play of bells' is quite famous in Bremen because part of the wall next to the bells turns. It is quite beautiful and you can see all of the faces of the wall with the various images (just click on any of the photos to go to my Flickr site).
The Bremen Marketplace:


Bremen (10), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The glockenspiel:



Bremen (15), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at Botanica, a fantastic botanical garden within walking distance from the Kostka's flat. Laurel and Lilly had a great time in the gardens and I really enjoyed seeing new plants and the exhibits.




Bremen (40), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

In the afternoon, Joel and I met Heath, Jen and Jordan at the cathedral downtown to climb to the top. After lots and lots of steps, and getting a bit dizzy in the circular staircases, we made it to the top. The view was spectacular! Below you can see the view of Bremen and a gargoyle on the roof of the cathedral. After the climb we went to a nice pub along the river and enjoyed good German food and beer!


Bremen (68), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

This evening I had the chance to visit the viewing platform of the Jena Tower. Finally after looking at the Tower from the ground for a whole month I was able to enjoy the view!

JenaTower (11), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The view was incredible!! I could see the street that I live on and the Wagnergasse--the area with pubs and cafes! On my Flickr site I have posted notes showing these areas!

Berlin 041, originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The weekend of June 9 I went to Berlin and stayed with Marco and Janine(picture above)--Marco is a PhD student in Kirsten's lab and his girlfriend Janine is a PhD student in Berlin. They were fantastic hosts and made my visit a wonderful experience!

On Saturday, we spent the day kayaking in an area called Spreewald which is ~1 hour from Berlin. The kayak trip was organized by friends of Marco and Janine and it ended up being a large group--9 boats! We had a great time paddling around the area and stopped for a nice picnic lunch at a grassy spot. The Spreewald is a wetlands area with some small towns and man-made canals weaving through it. The area is now mostly nature preserve and a popular tourist spot for Germans. It was interesting to see the area because in some ways it is similar to a Florida swamp but the plants are a bit different and there are no alligators! It was funny because early in the trip I had to remind myself that the log in the water was not an alligator! The Spreewald is also a famous place for pickles and I tasted an authentic Spreewald pickle at a canal-side stand. You can just paddle the boat up to a stand, coffee shop, cafe or pub!! They make a variety of flavored pickles--some good, some not so good! I would love to share photos of the trip but, unfortunately all of the photos were lost from my camera. I am hoping to get photos from the other kayakers or find a way to retrieve the pics.

On Sunday we went sightseeing in the central part of east Berlin--we walked a total of 11 km in 6 hours! Luckily we were able to make the best of a single day in Berlin and saw lots of the main sights. I'll post more info soon but for now there are more pics at my Flickr site.

Here are a few random photos from the Lobeda area of Jena. Yes, those are sheep in a parking lot! (click on the photo below to be redirected to my Flickr site and more photos!)



The old building with the drab exterior is typical of the former GDR (East Germany). I find the remnants of the GDR and the changes since the reunification very interesting.

I took advantage of another holiday weekend and took to the train to Köln to visit my friend Elke. I left late in afternoon on Friday and arrived just before midnight. The train system in Germany is really fantastic but it is plagued by delays. I missed a connection due to a late arrival but still managed to find my way! The train stations for the large cities are really unique! I posted a few photos of them on my Flickr site--you can see that the city and the station name are in neon lights inside the station. When you arrive in Köln and exit the train station you are met by the Dom (cathedral)--talk about a shock! The Dom is gigantic! and quite beautiful! It was a neat way to start my trip in Köln. When I arrived at Elke's flat it was like going home after spending two weeks in a new place and with new people.

On Saturday we planned to go shopping and explore the downtown area of Köln. I was able to meet Elke's son Qobelo that morning--it was like meeting him for the first time since I haven't seen hime since he was 1 month old! He is a wonderful child and Elke is an amazing mom! She lives in the suburbs of Köln which is only a 10 minute walk across the Rhine River to the main downtown area of Köln. We spent most of the day walking around the pedestrian area and shoping and ended at the Dom where we had a coffee. After a long day of shopping it was time to give Qobs some proper play time so we headed over to the Rhinepark, which is a large playground and greenspace. That night we had a proper German meal and crashed from a long day of sightseeing.

On Sunday we had a very touristy day--we visited the chocolate museum and took a Rhine River cruise. The chocolate museum was really cool--it had sections with the history of chocolate and past advertisements and a fully functioning Lindt chocolatier production plant! We were able to watch the creation of chocolate bars and truffles right before our eyes! The Rhine River cruise was also great! (This area of the Rhine is not the famous "romantic" area with castles and fairytales--that is found further south). We were able to see the countryside around Köln and some of the smaller towns south of the city. We were really lucky with the weather--it was supposed to rain and be cold the entire weekend but the sun came out during the cruise and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Monday was a nice relaxing day--we watched cartoons (in German) and Elke helped me learn a bit of German (I can now order a coffee and ask where the bathroom is--vital language skills). I left a bit early and managed to get home in 4 1/2 hours since the trains were running on time. It was such a good weekend! I really enjoyed spending time with Elke and Qobs! Qobs and I played Legos whenever we were at the flat and he would help his mom teach me German! It was quite funny to play Legos with him since he only speaks German and I only speak English--somehow we were able to have a good time and build cool Lego houses.

Please check out the photos on my Flickr site--just click on the photo above and you will automatically be redirected!

I arrived in Jena around 1pm today—I was so tired that I hardly even knew where I was for most of the drive from the Liepzig airport to Jena. Kirsten’s graduate student, Eva, picked me up from the airport and she seems very nice! It will be great to work with her. I met Kirsten at the Institute and it was great to see her. She was amazingly hospitable—very understanding of my exhaustion. She helped me get some groceries and settle in to my apartment. All of it was quite overwhelming—I would have been in the grocery store for hours trying to figure everything out if she hadn’t been there! As confusing and overwhelming as things seem right now I can tell that I will settle in quickly and that everyday tasks will get easier. I am much to tired to write anything else—I will have my first day in Kirsten’s lab tomorrow and hopefully some time to explore Jena. It will be another exciting day!

I left Tallahassee yesterday and did not get really excited about the trip until I boarded the flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt. I think in a way the whole trip was not real until that point. The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful—I got lucky though and had an entire row of 2 to myself. I had forgotten how unique it is to fly away from the sun then back into it with the change of time zones and the day—I can tell already that I will be quite jet-lagged (I arrived in Frankfurt at 1 am Eastern time but 7 am German time).

When we were approaching Frankfurt for quite a while the cloud cover hid the city. Once the plane dropped below the clouds the view of the city and surrounding areas was breathtaking. Everything was surrounded by trees and the building had that European flair that I remember from my parent’s photos of Holland. Once off the plane I realized how interesting the next few weeks are going to be—I haven’t been this confused in a long time! Just trying to figure out where to go, how to get Euros, how to find the toilettes, how to not get lost is an adventure! I have been walking around the Frankfurt airport laughing to myself about how crazy/ interesting the situation is. Once I finally found my gate (and this process was further confused by the extreme amount of construction at the airport) I decided to get caffeinated and enjoy my three hour layover. First stop: get Euros; second stop: shopping; third and final stop: coffee shop! A real live amazing coffee shop—I have a butter croissant and an amazing cappuccino sitting in front of me—it’s like heaven. (Note to Sarah—in the shop I stopped at they had Pylones stuff and those cool jute bags that you and I got a long time ago in Tally—I will go shopping for you on the return trip.)

Well, I think that will have to be all for me right now—I need to revive myself with the cappuccino and find my way back to the gate soon. More news soon!

Well, this is it! Tomorrow I depart for my 2-month German adventure! I finished packing late this afternoon and I am finally getting excited about the trip! I leave Tallahassee at noon (May 14th) and I will arrive in Jena after ~20 hours of travel on May 15th. As soon as I get settled I will update everyone with a new post. I will miss everyone!!

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