L'Allemagne

It took me seven hours to get to Germany by train; a long winding journey up through Northern France, out of the stony mountains and scrubby countryside of southern France, and into snow capped mountains, pine trees, and Swiss style chocolate box houses. We crossed the border at Strasbourg and arrived in Karlsruhe mid afternoon. The first thing I noticed was the cold, and the second, the delicious smell of sausages cooking. I found the 'Ausgang' (exit) and made my way out of the station, revelling in the sounds and smells. It's amazing when you get the chance to discover somewhere or something for the very first time. 

Erfurt Christmas market...the highlight of the weekend

Paige and I met at the station and took the next train from Karlsruhe to Jena, in East Germany, where Sofia lives. I had no idea how difficult it is to travel around Germany- the distances are long and the train ticket prices very expensive in comparison to France. For example, for me to take a train from the South of France up to the north (Paris) it costs around 25€ (booked in advance with my discount card). For Paige to take a train from the South of Germany up to the north (Berlin/ Hamburg) it costs around 80€ (booked in advance with a discount card). The journey from Karlsruhe to Jena took six hours but went so quickly, with so much to catch up on. We arrived in Jena at 10pm and met Sofia and her sister Susie who has just come over to live in Germany from their home in Mexico. We managed a cup of tea before falling into bed and sleeping well into the morning.

my first view of Germany

 Friday morning was spent exploring Jena while Sofia was at work. We grabbed a late breakfast at a 'health food' cafe, (the whole concept of health food/ organic food is quite big here) which turned out to be the best breakfast I have had in my whole time abroad. I thought France had the foodie thing knocked into a hat, but unfortunately (for me) I discovered very good things in Germany. I had a waffle with cinnamon, cream and apple sauce, and a hot chocolate. They had all kinds of flavours- I chose cashew caramel- caramel chocolate combined with cashew nougat and caramel crisps, with Japanese spices of peppermint, ginger, chilli and pepper. If your mouth is watering, it should be. It was the most amazing hot chocolate I have ever tasted, brought out simply as a tall glass of frothy hot milk, and a bar of this chocolate. You put the chocolate bar in the milk and have a small whisk. When the chocolate has melted you whisk it in to the milk. Heaven! I have looked for it online and it doesn't look very easy to get hold of but you can buy it here: http://www.zotterchocolate.co.uk/Buy-OnLine(2603292).htm

In the afternoon we split off from Susie who was going to help Sofia at school and did some more wandering before arriving back at the gallery to meet Sofia at 4.30. And so arrived 4.30. And then 5.30.  So we wandered down into the gallery where a crowd had gathered and a group of children were doing a Christmas dance performance. We were transfixed- they were amazing and so adorable. 

We easily watched them for about an hour, and then at 6.30, with no word from Sofia we decided to go and get some chips and wander back to the apartment to see if she had gone without us. We were sitting on the wall eating our chips and wondering what the best plan of action was, when Sofia, in typical Sofia fashion, ambled up, having apparently gone to the library 'for a bit'. She was totally unconcerned, as only Sofia can be. By the time Sofia and Susie had got their chips and we'd all eaten we wandered through the town to the Jena Christmas markets. Unfortunately half 7 was too late, in a small town like Jena they close around 7, and we could only get some bratwurst and Glühwein (mulled wine). My first bratwurst was delicious- they are so cheap and so tasty, I could eat them every day. The Glühwein also is the perfect addition to the Christmas markets, cheap, sold in gorgeous memorial mugs of each market, and warming to the core. It also adds to the atmosphere to walk around in a blissful fuzz of alcohol. We headed to an 'après-ski' bar and drank Glühwein galore until we decided to head on to a bar. Being 20, 21 and 22 we hadn't bothered bringing out IDs with us, which turned out to be a rookie error considering we are all about 5 feet tall. It didn't matter because we went back, got into bed and had a lot of chocolate until we fell asleep. 

gluhwein

a street in Jena 

 Jena

 Paige + bratwurst

Sofia, Paige and I

Friday morning started with Mexican pancakes, fried plantain and almond butter and a supposed early start. After waking Sofia and Susie up at 9am, we finally left the house at 1.30pm and arrived in Erfurt at 3.30pm about half an hour before dark. Of course we started as we meant to go on with Bratwurst, garlic creamy mushrooms, steak, washed down with plenty of Glühwein and then we started a meander through the market. Erfurt was a gorgeous town, with lots of beautiful old streets and buildings. The markets had such an amazing atmosphere, with smells of meat, roasting nuts, mulled wine, and lots of chatter and carol singing. We found the medieval market, selling slices of hot stollen for 1€ each and filled up any remaining tummy space with more mulled wine. Then we climbed up to the gothic cathedral and looked down over the market. I can't explain how content we were, with a stomach full of delicious food, a head full of wine and such a beautiful surrounding and atmosphere. I could have stayed all week.

A very happy Sofia en route to Erfurt

 Paige, me, Sofia and Susie

Sofia and Paige in Erfurt

A beautiful square in Erfurt

some map reading trouble

Sofia and Susie

Paige and I with yet another Gluhwein

the beautiful gothic cathedral in Erfurt

We had an early start to go to Nuremberg on Saturday, and so we all fell into bed when we got back from Erfurt. We left the apartment late and thundered down five flights of stairs, and out into the quiet street. The train journey was pretty, through snow covered countryside and lots and lots of pines. We arrived in Nuremberg at 11 and split off from Sofia who was meeting a friend. Luckily Suvi and Piers had tipped me off about the historical significance of Nuremberg- not being much of a historian myself- and they told me I must try to go to the Palace of Justice, where the most influential Nazis were trialled after the second world war, and most were sentenced to death. The Palace was huge and the exhibition very well and very thoroughly done. It was unnerving to see the faces of the men that were trialled all over the walls, and underneath the list of atrocities they had committed. It seemed unbelievable that it wasn't even one hundred years ago. You could also listen to the opening and closing speeches of each prosecutor- they had 4, one from the US, one from England, one from France and one from Russia. The closing one particularly was extremely moving. You could also watch witness statements- including the first Holocaust surviver to be a witness- very hard to watch. Then you could go and sit in Courtroom 600, where the trials took place, and through a screen, see a visual projection of how it had been, including the people sitting in each place. It took us about three hours to see everything, and we left feeling slightly subdued but it is so important for things to take on some kind of meaning. 

The Palace of Justice

Courtroom 600

We met Sofia then and headed back to the centre of Nuremberg, and climbed up to Nuremberg castle which offers panoramic views of the city. It's also a hostel where Sofia and Paige have once stayed and said it's very very nice, with an amazing breakfast and only 20€ a night for a double room. Then we bought bratwurst and wine, discovered eggnog (a first for both Paige and I), with free ginger biscuits to dip into the eggnog. We probably had more than our quota of biscuits but they were so good! We found stollen, in hundreds of flavours- cranberry and macademia, baileys, chocolate and almond, champagne... the list goes on and bought some of that. We bought some glühwein mugs as a souvenir of the weekend, though I don't think it will be my last Christmas market. We watched the band playing carols, and then when we were all too tired to stand anymore we went to a café and drank hot chocolate until midnight. Paige and I had a 1am train to catch to get us into Karlsruhe for 7am- in time for my 9am train back home. 

Nuremberg skyline

obligatory selfie

Nuremberg

Sofia, Paige and I

Our souvenir mugs

We said goodbye to Sofia and Susie and headed through the quiet streets (even after a huge event such as the Nuremberg Christmas market there were none of the English scenes of girls sitting in the gutter, and paramedics trying to revive people way past their limit.) We got on our train which had compartments in the carriages like Harry Potter and curled up to try and get some sleep. At 5, we woke in Frankfurt and were tipped out onto the cold platform where we had an hour to wait for the next train to Karlsruhe. Thankfully- so thankfully- everything ran smoothly and we were in Karlsruhe on time where we grabbed a continental breakfast (questionable) and said our goodbyes and I boarded the train to Strasbourg. 12 hours later I was back in Apt.

It was such a quick weekend but the best weekend I have had since being abroad. It was so good to be with close friends, and just be able to laugh. Germany was amazing and I am inclined to agree with Paige that it is the most underrated European country. Anybody that is reading this I would recommend it a hundred times!

These are the things I learnt about German people over the weekend:

1) They are very hard working, efficient and productive. At school Paige and Georgia said the teachers don't talk in the staffroom and would find it preposterous that other cultures might use facebook or catch up on the weekends events while in the office.

2) They don't mince their words. As an extended example of 1- in the workplace if someone is not doing something correctly or not working efficiently they would be told without hesitation. For example, in the documentary, the man was talking more than working and he was immediately informed, 'this is not how we work. You're not doing it right.'

3) On their double beds they use two single duvets and when they make the bed they fold them into squares at the bottom of the bed.

4) The women spend on average 4 hours doing housework, and they generally are all stay at home mothers.

5) On Sunday you have to observe the day of rest rule- it is illegal to mow the lawn, and you must keep quiet.

6) Germans are very focused on extracurricular activities. They do a lot of sport, play instruments and are very social. TV and popular culture is not such a big deal.