Adventures in Deutschland: October 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

OktoberTrip: Part I - My Stomping Grounds

Frankfurt, Mainz, hike to a castle, Köln, Utrecht, Amsterdam, in one week! People thought we were big wierdos to go so many places in so little time. In Germany, everyone gets at least 6 weeks of vacation per year (and as many sick days as you need until you get well), and they're no less productive than we are. Mental and physical health increases your changes of being productive and happy, who knew?

Frankfurt, 20 Oct.

Our heroine once again set out on her most important search in Frankfurt. In contrast to his native research environment, she would not be able to distinguish Bill by skin color in Frankfurt, thanks to DHL and their distinctive packaging, she found him easily among the locals, after we bribed the police with some dried home grown basil he brought me.

Das ist Occupy Frankfurt

Frankfurt is packed with more neat architecture, riverside scenery, museums, tasty upscale and downscale food and outdoor markets, and events than you can explore along with its own cosmopolitan financial and cultural personality. Today's institution of choice: the Caricatura Museum. According to its own tourism website, Frankfurt has the largest density of comedy. This was the first of many museums during our week long adventure that taught us the quality and endless exhibits and value of museums in Europe. Your student ID can get you into the Caricatura Museum for the half price of 2.5 €, allowing you access to 3 (maybe 4, can't remember) floors of densely packed galleries of hand drawn satire of movie stars (Arrnold??), current and recent world leaders (Angela, Barack, Nicolas, Dick, George), football (soccer) stars, Hitler, previous royalty (Louis, another Louis, and many more Louis's), quintessential suburban life, Catholicism, and complacent tourists - if you've seen Lilo & Stitch, think of her bedroom wall of photographs. Sure, we could have understood more if we knew more German, but the majority of the cartoons were funny in any language.

Giggles, food, wine, wine, beer, strolled the city 'til night fall, train to Mainz. Busy day for our hero's first day across the Great Atlantic Pond (GAP).

For some reason, they really like to draw bananas on walls in this country...see upcoming posting on Köln

Frankfurter Dom!

Bill knows all these people

The Römer

Did you know?

All we could afford to eat...or saving room for tomorrow??

From da bridge!

Zwei weitere Wanderung in Frankfurt, Nummer Eins

Blogductivity recently took a vacation with the blogger. In the company of her graduate university's namesake, our heroine explored Frankfurt, Mainz, Köln, Utrecht (in Niederland!), and Amsterdam (You know where that is). Before describing the her visit to Frankfurt to fetch our hero, who saved this blog by rescuing her camera that she 'tossed' over the fence into the ruins of the Roman Theatre in Mainz, let's take a brief look at her independent exploration on 24 September, more one month ago.

Upon arriving in Frankfurt, a preview of what I see later in the day

First, she wandered to the Goethe Haus. Having never read any of his work except for some long forgotten excerpts in high school history, this was a damn touristy move, and she refers the interested reader to the Wikipedia et al, for related history and literature. J. W. Goethe descended from the Imperial Councillor and daughter of the mayor of Frankfurt, and the furnishings, architecture, and library of the house indicate a comfortable dwelling where a classical education was prioritized for him and his younger sister, the only sibling who did not die at a young age.

Brilliant wood work and an astronomical clock

Each room had unique wall paper, sometimes very intricate, or an exquisite gallery of paintaings

My favorite wall paper in the sunlight

Two places to oggle beautiful people are at a rock gym and at a car show. Hence, our heroine stumbled into a small outdoor sports store, spoke her wishes "Ich suche Kletterschuhe", didn't understand the instructions, then asked the nice attendant "entshuldigung, können Sie mit Mir englisch sprechen", the phrase I use most often.

Kletterschuhe

Lastly, I had to drop in on the final day of the IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung). I'm probably a middle-of-the-road car lover, I would like to drive them in the middle of the road, but know better. I appreciate them and understand the basic mechanics and mechanical qualities, more than just the aesthetics, like I do for most sports, without becoming part of the entourage for any brand, although I have some preferences. This experiment was an also excellent demonstration of Lianephoresis, the affinity of Liane to move through the matrix of an energetic crowd more easily than larger persons due to her small size. I took pictures of cars, and not the models who probably don't drive them, until my camera battery died. Sorry guys.

The exhibitors in hall 3, out of ELEVEN! I think I hit 4 of them, in 4-5 hours

Engines!

Ist grüner!

What's with Germany and bananas? See the future Frankfurt and Köln posts to see what I mean

Some oppressively pink vehicles

Audi now manufactures space ships....it's a test driving track

Lianephoresis brought her close enough to reach her camera high over the crowd to shoot these Lamborghinis.

If you know what this symbol means, comment here

Porsche race car

Electric vehicle

Volkswagen confused my camera... it died during this segment

Upcoming: an awesome week of natural and architectural beauty, history, food, churches, train rides in good company

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Running and running landscapes

Someone subtly suggest that I should run more often. Last evening, I decided to run by the river. By the time I decided, however, the sun which warmed the air to about 14 C (upper 50s, F ) during the day had already set leaving remnants of warm air emanating only slightly from the pavement as the overall temperature fell below 10 C (50 F). In addition, I need about 30 min to walk to the river from my Wohnheim. Running there and back may not give me much time along the river within my threshold: my Vibram FiveFinger shoes enhance the sensitivity of my feet to the ground and given the cobblestones and occasional hills (real ones, some times big ones), hello calves, ankles (especially the left one), and metatarsils. I rode my bicycle to the river (I purchased a used one for 45 € with the lock from a shack on campus called UniBike). I prepared for the impending windchill with a good (but cheap) pair of gloves with grips for cycling I found at Aldi and these clothes:

That's green toe shoes, black tights, maroon shorts, a light blue turtleneck, and a magenta windbreaker. Good thing my gloves were also black. I elected to try my new purple toe socks (Thanks James!) another time.

In practicality, this outfit was perfect. While the air chilled my toes through my permeable shoes during the bike ride, they quickly warmed up as closer and more dynamic contact with the cobble stoned or gravel ground increased circulation as I ran along the river.

I ran from marker 3 to 5 and back. The red oval indicates the general vicinity of Hartenberg Park, at least where I start. Most foot trails can't be found on the map.

The trees on the opposite bank connected with silhouettes. Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard, their shadows searching in the night. The water shimmered with the musky yellow streetlights next to the river and over the bridges. Delaying the outing until nightfall is half the excitement and made me twice as alert as I would have been during the day, although much of that is apprehension for falling.

This route was a great alternative to my favorite weekend route next to my Wohnheim where I would not go at night, Hartenberg Park and the gardens beyond. From my apartment, a quick shortcut uphill through a driveway and a parking lot takes me to the playgrounds of Hartenberg Park, through which I can pass downhill to the back gardens of countryside-esque homes. Just last weekend, I ran in shorts and a t-shirt, and finally with my camera :-)