finally... we are home

I think I'm turning Deutsch,

I really think so

This week I have:

• taken the express train to and from work Monday through Wednesday and complained when a train was only five minutes late
• ridden my bicycle (30 minutes each way) to the company where I was working, on Thursday while wearing a skirt and on Friday while wearing a low-cut blouse
• eaten pizza with tuna fish on it
• ridden in a Mercedes twice
• caught myself spelling my native language E-n-g-l-i-s-c-h, while teaching it

If you think the following joke is funny, you may also be turning Deutsch.
"Do you know Bavaria? It's near Germany."

Days until repatriation: 34

Ben's HaircutBen actually let me cut his hair the other night! We left it long on top and short in back and it only took me about two hours. (Ben was very patient. Well, pretty patient.) His new favorite accessory is my headband and I think it suits him!

I am now officially back from Kiel and Neumünster for good. I brought Ben a present of two marzipan figures- a Nemo fish and a mouse with cheese. I hope they tasted as good as they looked!

Schloß Hämelschenburg

On Friday, Ben and I took a day-trip to the nearby Hämelschenburg castle and city of Hamelin. We toured the castle after lunch with a rather dry and unenthusiastic German tour guide.

Ben stands in front of the castle looking into the pond full of huge (alleged) goldfish. I only found one gold one.

The owners must have been big hunters because there were entire rooms covered in antlers and stuffed heads. Ben swears we saw a stuffed cat.

From the castle, you can see the rest of the grounds and the hilly countryside.

Near the castle we found this pretty garden that led down to the Weser River and an artists' village.

Hamelin

After seeing the castle, we strolled around the city famous for the Pied Piper (Rattenfänger). There were many interesting and famous old buildings, like the one Ben is standing in front of- the Rattenfängerhaus.

We finally found the statue of the Pied Piper, and I guess the stories about him must be true because the only rats we saw were painted on the ground and mostly worn away.

So I found my own rat in a local bakery and posed with him on the train ride back to Göttingen- tasty!

Neumünster
My first two weeks of English classes were actually in Neumünster, a small city about a half an hour south of Kiel. Ben came to visit me over the weekend and promptly hurt his back!

So we went to Rossmann (like a drugstore, but without any real medicine) and bought some back massage cream and two pain-relieving patches. Unfortunately, we did not read that the patches contained chili pepper until after the application. Hence the slight redness.







We then decided to have a relaxing weekend and stay in Neumünster. Ben took me shopping on Friday and Saturday and even helped me pick out new clothes. For lunch on Saturday, we chose a nice seafood restaurant called Der Butt.

We just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!

On Sunday, we spent a romantic afternoon at the park with a couple rolls. We fed the ducks, pigeons, doves, seagulls and one strange bird we couldn't identify.

And we saw more butts- duck butts!

Ben's favorite duck in Neumünster.

The hen was not shy and she waddled right up to him and quacked for food.

Ben then gave her a not-so-endearing nick-name that I will not repeat here!

Picnic with Idee

Who drank all of the wine?

My friend, Idee, from my German course invited Ben and me to her house on Friday for a picnic after my last day of class before I left for Kiel. We took the bus to her house in Waake and packed blankets, food and drinks before going for a walk. After about 15 minutes of walking through the woods, we found an open field and spread out our blankets and un-corked the wine.

As we discussed adjusting to life in Germany and Idee told us stories from her time in Russia, her tiny dog happily began to dig up roots and fill her mouth with dirt. Ben had to pick Chillda up so she would stop digging.

After the picnic, we went back to Idee's house and we helped her cook a Bolivian dish of rice and chicken. Deliciosa!

I caught Ben in the act!

Our lovely bedroom

I won't be seeing our Stift rooms much over the next two months, as I will be working in Kiel. On Sunday, I will take the 3 hour trip with the express train to Kiel and find the hotel in Neumünster where I will be living most of the time.

Thankfully, I will probably go home on some of the weekends and Ben will come and visit me a couple times. If he uses his student i.d. to ride the slow train for free to Hamburg, the trip will be about 5 hours.

So apart from the fact that I will have to spend so much time away from my Benjamin, I am glad to have the opportunity to work more. I will be teaching English from 8:45 am to 6:30 pm everyday, with an hour and a half for breaks. I know the only thing that will get me through the first week without him, is knowing we will be able to go for a walk on the beach together when he arrives on Friday.

PS: We are heading back to Minnesota! I fly home July 12th and Ben will return on August 1st.

All dressed up for Easter

I told Ben I had to get a picture of him whenever he dresses up. He calls this his 'Steve Zissou' pose. Even though he wore jeans to the Easter service at the Jacobikirche, he felt overdressed with his tie. While we didn't receive communion today, we can go back for it tomorrow at the Easter Monday Service. Good Friday, Easter and Easter Monday are all national holidays.

Easter Trip to Kassel

The day before Easter, Ben and I took the train to Kassel with our friend Osman. We toured two small museums and enjoyed the spring flowers in the morning before having lunch and checking out the Kassel Easter Market. At the Ostermarkt we were lucky enough to meet

THE EASTER BUNNY!


The Easter Bunny seemed friendly enough, talking with the children, but then we looked a bit closer...

and saw his costume was a little too realistic. It is made out of real rabbit fur. I would think a cannibal Easter Bunny would scare the children away. But the children still loved this pagan symbol of spring and fertility. Go figure.

The Brothers Grimm Museum

We chose to visit Das Brüder Grimm-Museum first. We were disappointed to find that half of the museum was off-limits due to new fire regulations and the other half was entirely devoted to only one story-Mother Hulda. Frau Holle is somewhere in between Mother Nature and a fairy godmother and has roots in Germanic and Norse mythology. While it was interesting, it lost the novelty after about 99 different versions of the story.

Next, we went to the Museum für Sepulkralkultur- basically a museum about death and cultural traditions.

Before we left, I made sure to show Ben and Osman my favorite place in Kassel- Berlitz!

Benjamin with the Easter Bunny.

Notice the well-placed cigarette vending machine.

A Göttingen Spring Break

Ben and I both have this week off, so I sharpened my photography skills with the extra time. Showing his manliness, Ben is attempting to repair two bicycles that were left for us here at the Stift. After fixing one of the bikes, we checked out four bicycles shops around town to compare prices for just buying another used one. Unfortunately, at €150 for the cheapest used bikes, Ben will probably have to fix both of the tires on the other bicycle himself!

Above, is a University building near the center of town. It is the highlight of campus architecture. The rest of campus appears to be a collage of various clashing styles from the second half of the 20th century. To the right, is the oddest sculpture/statue I have ever seen. It juts out of the ground about 5° off of vertical. To me, it resembles the green stick of clay out of which Gumby was molded.

On our way home from grocery shopping, we stopped to look at the memorial to the people of Göttingen who died in the Holocaust. When looking toward the sky from under the sculpture, you can see the star of David that is echoed on the ground below.

Ben, sitting pretty in his half shorts/half pants creation. He is trying to figure out what we are going to do and where we are going to go next year. Minnesota or Georgia? The jury is still out.

Six Days in Paris...

Ben created our itinerary and played guide by navigating the maze of subways and sprawling city. The Rick Steves guide came in very useful!

Our first day began on the Left Bank with the historic Paris walk, highlighting the fictional home of Quasimodo, the cathedral of "Our Lady" Notre-Dame.

Our favorite part of the day was the gorgeous stained glass in the chapel of Louis IX, Sainte-Chapelle.

Museums

One of our main goals on the trip was to see as much of the art in Paris as possible. We visited six major museums: the Louvre (three times), Orsay, Orangerie, Cluny, Pompidou, and the Picasso museums. We saw so much art that Ben's pupils were permanently constricted for a few days. We loved the art in the Louvre, but we preferred more intimate museums like the Orangerie and Orsay to the overwhelming palace.

Of course we both had to get pictures with the glass pyramid, though we never did find the inverted pyramid (from the Da Vinci Code.)

Marie's Favorites

• Winged Victory of Samothrace
• The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault
• The Médicis Gallery in the Louvre by Rubens
• St. Joseph the Carpenter by de La Tour
• The Birth of Venus by Cabanel
• The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries
  

Ben's Favorites

• The Death of Sardanapalus by Delacroix
• Venus Standing in a Landscape by Cranach the Elder
• The Tree of Crows by Friedrich
• The Slaughtered Ox by Rembrandt
• Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Renoir
• Olympia by Manet

Our Favorites

• Water Lilies rooms of the Orangerie by Monet
• Self Portrait, St. Rémy by van Gogh

A Nice Day for a Walk

Ben led us on the Champs-Elysées walk, up one of the most famous streets in Paris to the Arc de Triomphe.

A friendly stranger took our picture in front of the arch before we climbed the 284 stairs to the top of the arch for this view down the Champs-Elysées.

La Tour Eiffel
We had a romantic night at the Eiffel Tower after a dinner of porc au vin and rabbit lasanga at Le P´tit Troquet. We went up to the second level for a stunning night view and caught the lights sparkling on the hour. We strolled around and then watched the lights sparkle again an hour later from the Champ de Mars garden below.

St. Denis


Sitting on a bridge over Seine River, I am holding on to my scarf because it is very windy! In my pocket is the 6-day museum pass that allowed us to skip the long lines and get in to most museums for free. Well worth the price.

On the Montmartre Walk we saw on of my favorite statues of St. Denis, an early Christian bishop of Paris beheaded by the Romans on Montmatre for spreading Christianity. The legend says that after his head was cut off, he picked it up and carried it for another 3 miles while preaching before he died. Thus the martyr became a parton of Paris.

Ben stands in front the fantastic Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) Basilica atop the hill of butte Montmarte, the highest point in Paris. Inside above the altar is probably the most glorious mosaic I have ever seen. Photos were not allowed, so to see the mosaic of Christ try this panoramic link http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen5/f13-sacre-coeur.html and click and drag to pan around.

Ben found one of his favorite sculptures in Notre-Dame Cathedral, a monument to Henri d'Harcourt by Baptiste Pigalle in the Chapelle of St. Guillaume. His favorite piece is (obviously) the death-like figure in the cloak looking over the body.