Pictures from Munich

Here are the some pictures from my weekend in Munich. My dad took a bunch of them—I gladly surrendered the camera to him for most of the weekend; he takes some amazing shots!

Churches in Munich. Dad and I climbed the tower in the first one. The last is the famous Glockenspiel.

The Viktualienmarkt, where they sold all different kinds of foods, fish, veggies, bread, flowers, jams. This is where we got the spargel, and some delicious pretzels to snack on.

Right near the hotel was a Greek place called Restaurant Thessaloniki. It’s funny!

Interior/exterior shots of the Hofbrauhaus, one of the oldest beer houses/gardens in Munich. We ate in the garden portion. This place was huge; it’s size itself was impressive. I had some traditional German dishes here, as well as a beer that was larger than my face; I needed two hands to lift it!

More shots around the city. This is the piano I was talking about—how did it get here?

Here are some shots from Dachau. First picture, one of many monuments/memorials at the site, with never again in different languages. Next shows a picture of how the barracks would have looked; they had reconstructed a few of them, but for the most part there was just the outline to show where they would have been. Third, the crematorium, and fourth, the gas chamber. It was chilling and horrifying to be in the exact spot such atrocities were carried out with such efficiency. Next, a shot of the fence and guard tower, and last, the mocking words above the gate, “Work sets you free”.

Some shots from the Residence Palace.It was incredibly ornate and large and we were exhausted walking through it. Shots of me and Dad in the mirrors!

Circus Krone! Although a little cheesy looking, it was really fun and very well done. We weren’t supposed to take pictures during the show, but during the lion taming I had to whip out my camera and try to capture a few shots before hastily putting the camera back in my bag. The guy was in there with 12 lions, and he was kissing them and cuddling them while at the same time inciting them to roar and snarl ferociously! In the last one, the lion is running up the sides of the cage; it was wild!

Ausfahrt—Oh, Munich!

Vat a vundabah veekend! I just spent the weekend in Munich, which was fun enough, but even better, my dad was there! Because he was in Europe on business, we were able to meet in Munich and spend some time together.It was so much fun—I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed my family until I was hugging my dad in person. We had such a great time, cracking jokes and goofing around the city; it was so fun after two months alone and it was really hard to know it will be at least that long until I see him and the rest of my family again. It was a very well-spent weekend!

I arrived in Munich a few hours before Dad did, so after dropping my stuff off at the hotel I walked downtown and, wandering around, stumbled across most of the famous sights of the city. Marianplatz (the main square), Frauenkirche cathedral, a couple of other churches. I walked through a courtyard that I realized was part of the Residence palace, which led me to the edge of the English Garden, larger than central park. I then walked by the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer house in Munich, and next to it was the Viktualienmarkt, which sold fresh fruit, veggies, spices, etc. I walked farther than I thought, but I still saw a lot in a relatively small space.

Once Dad arrived we went back to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch and some traditional German food, and the largest beer I’ve ever seen. It was interesting to see; there were some old men in lederhosen at a table I thought were planted by the restaurant, but apparently they come in formal dress for the fun of it. At night it must be a riot, with the long table full of drunks swaying and singing along with the music. There was already a German man singing at lunch, beer glass drained.

We walked around some more, popping in churches, climbing towers. We came across a group of five musicians playing classical music in the street—it was puzzling to think about how they got the baby grand piano one man was playing over the cobblestone streets. We also saw some people setting up for some kind of peace demonstration about Libya. For dinner the first night we went to a delicious Italian place close to the hotel, and it was just so great to sit across from Dad and talk to him face-to-face.

The next morning we got up early and took a train to Dachau to visit the concentration camp memorial there. It was surprisingly close to Munich, and the camp was right within the city. Large portions of the camp were reconstructed in order to show what it would have been like at different periods in its history. One barrack building had three different dorm rooms that were each styled after a different year of the camp’s operation, and you could see how bad conditions got even worse as the camp grew more and more overcrowded as time went on.

It was so great to see because it makes it that much more real. It’s interesting, because we all know about what went on in WWII, we learn about it in history class, but in the US, all that stuff happened ‘over there’, and it was sobering and eye-opening to visit a place where the evil we learn about actually took place. It was incredible to stand in a room that, upon liberation, the American forces found piles of dead bodies waiting to be burned in the crematorium, or to stand in an actual gas chamber. The crematorium was unbelievable; it was a little red brick building in the middle of a garden, with trees and shrubs and little paths around. You never would have guessed what when on inside. Although it was a sobering and not overly fun start to the day, I’m really glad we got to see it; it was incredibly informative and I learned a lot, always a good thing.

We returned to Munich in the afternoon after lunch in Dachau and went to visit the Residence Palace, the seat of Bavarian power for hundreds of years. It was exhausting; we were guided by little arrows through about 90 different, incredibly ornate rooms. The size and scope of the Palace was amazing. The Palace began as a fortified medieval castle, but as time went on various kings redecorated and added on mazes of rooms, corridors, courtyards until it was just massive. Different rooms were decorated according to different time periods, but all were impressive and heavy in all kinds of riches, valuables, silks, paintings, ceramics. By the end of our self-tour we were so tired, because we walked so far! I don’t know how the royalty could have done it; plus, there were so many rooms haphazardly added on in such a weird layout it’s a wonder they weren’t constantly lost.

Saturday evening we went to see Circus Krone. We got the tickets because the concierge recommended it as an incredibly famous circus that tours Europe and always starts in Munich, where they have their winter headquarters. Plus, any shows or theatre we would have gone to was in German. When we first approached, we were a little apprehensive, since it looked a little cheesy. Once inside, it was actually really great; it was a real old-fashioned circus with the big top and sawdust on the floors. Our seats were pretty good too, although I don’t think there was a bad seat anywhere. It was a very entertaining show; I saw a guy catapulted through a flaming ring, crazy juggling an acrobatics, all kinds of animals. There were elephants, horses, seals, zebras, camels, llamas, and even a rhino, all of them doing all kinds of tricks. There were lions too—the lion tamer was in a cage with 12 lions all roaring and snarling and looking ferocious and he kissed them on the nose and cuddled them. We weren’t supposed to take pictures but I took my camera out then to try and get a couple quick shots, it was too cool. One act, with this guy leaping about a spinning wheel at the top of the tent, left me acutely uncomfortable and wishing he would stop, I was so certain he was going to fall and I’d watch someone die. Circuses in general make me very uncomfortable, but it was fun. Incredibly long, though; about three hours, and we didn’t eat before. It made their bows seem unendurably long.

This morning my flight was relatively early so I pretty much spent the day traveling and lazing around Thess. It was so hard to say good-bye to Dad; I miss him so much and, even though we had a great weekend and it was tons of fun, it wasn’t enough time! I miss dad jokes and that particular brand of goofy he gets when he’s having fun. It was a difficult good-bye, and I was embarrassingly sniffly during take-off, though the fat Greek woman I was next to pretended she didn’t notice.

Before leaving Munich, I bought a kilo of Spargel. It’s spargel season in Germany, and this white asparagus is everywhere—sold in the markets, on booths that pop up out of nowhere, and every restaurant features some kind if spargel special. I had some while I was in Germany, and it was delicious, so I decided to bring some back and try to make it for my friends. Almost everyone is still in Rhodes for the weekend, but Tanya, Abby, Katie, and Kelli were all here. I made spargel while they made a garlic-butter sauce, spinach, and boiled potatoes to go along with it. It was really delicious, and a good way to catch up with everyone and how their weekends went. The only problem was peeling; spargel, unlike normal asparagus, has to be peeled or the outer parts taste all woody and hard. For the most part I did fine but on a couple there were a couple sections I didn’t peel well enough, and it was a little tough. It was still delicious, though, and everyone agreed that the spargel head was the best part.

Overall, Munich was a charming little town, and very easy to see all the sights in a short time. Although, I think I would have had fun wherever I met Dad this weekend, just because he was there. This trip reminded me how much I miss my family, but I’m still so glad that I got to see him, even if for much too short a time!

Pictures will follow, I am just having trouble uploading them right now!

Mini Thanksgiving

Not much happened today—exercised, read in the sun, went to class. Tanya, Abby and I continued our Thursday night cooking with gravy, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and roasted chicken. It was quite delicious, and so much easier to make than yemista it was ridiculous; we didn’t know what to do with all the downtime. Although, the fact we were cooking for three instead of 15 might have had something to do with it…

Flying to Munich tomorrow morning! Excited to see the city, excited to see my dad! I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Ρείτσελ

Today was another amazing day at ELEPAP. I always feel like I don’t want to go when I get up at seven, but it’s always so amazing once I’m there. I used so much Greek today—a lot of the kids can’t speak that well, but there were two I spent a lot of time with today who are really good at speaking and comprehending language but who can’t really walk. I talked with them so much; it was awesome. At first I was so nervous I was going to say something wrong and mess these kids up, since the school is trying so hard to teach them to speak well in the first place, but after a while I started using all kinds of vocab to talk about giving the baby doll a bath, which clothes we wanted to dress them in, the colors of different things, where they wanted me to sit. It was really cute, I was having entire conversations in Greek with these kids! At one point, one of the little girls had kicked off a shoe and I didn’t notice, and one of the little boys who spoke well said, “Ρείτσελ”, and when I turned he said “τα παπόυτσια”, the shoes, and I fixed the problem. As I turned though, I realized he said my name! I didn’t realize they really knew me, and I know some of them probably don’t, but it was the sweetest moment, this adorable little boy calling me by name. I felt like I was really communicating with them, and they were obviously having fun with me too, so I just felt really great.

I got my Greek midterm back and I got a 95! A lot of them were educated guesses, but still! I did better than the Greek-speaking kids in my class, which I teased them about. They are way better at speaking than I am but when it comes to writing or sitting down and learning the grammar rules they just don’t take the same amount of time to study it as I do. Although to be fair, I would rather be good at speaking Greek than be book-smart with Greek, but I’m working on it.

We had a nice family dinner out tonight. We went to a street off Aristotelous square where there are all these little tavernas, and when you’re in a big group they fight over you to get you into their restaurant. We got a meal with four appetizers, a meat dish, kalamari, and wine for five euros a person. A lot of people in our building leave for Rhodes tomorrow, but Tanya, Abby and I are going to make mashed potatoes and roasted chicken for dinner. And of course, Friday morning I fly to meet Dad in Munich! I’m so excited to see him, it’s been too long!

Spaghetti Weights

Pretty slow day today. I set my alarm to 9:15 but didn’t roll out of bed until 10:20. I exercised this morning with one of the DVDs mom sent me and ended up using boxes of pasta as weights—they were the only things that were easily grabbable that I had two of! The pasta inside is probably all broken but that’s OK.

I had to present a chapter from the novella we’re reading in Greek. And by novella, I mean an easy- reader with page long chapters about a girl who works at a radio station. I have noticed my Greek improving though, which is very exciting. I can understand much more than I could before, and my speaking ability is definitely getting better. Of course, now I’m going to go to Italy and Spain for two weeks and will speak no Greek, but I think I’m going to bring my flashcards just to make sure all this vocab stays fresh in my mind.

I just had a little salad for dinner and was feeling so proud of myself for exercising and eating well, and then Abby made pull-apart cinnamon bread and Callie made brownies. Game over. I’ll have to exercise even more than I planned tomorrow, especially since I’m visiting Dad in this weekend Munich and will be eating all kinds of heavy German food.

I spent the rest of the evening obsessively cleaning my room as a way to procrastinate studying for my last midterm, and when I was done I still found stuff on my floor; it was so aggravating! I then spent forever doing Greek homework that’s not due for a few days and then studying Greek—can someone explain to me how I could procrastinate with more studying? As Tanya put it, “Classic scruncher!”

ΑΘΗΝΑ

The school took the study abroad students to Athens this weekend. It was fun, but not all the time—something I ate day one made me sick all weekend; I’m only now getting fully over it. Plus, the bus ride to and from was almost too long to justify what we did, which was surprisingly little.

We spent Friday on the way to Athens and stopped at the New Acropolis Museum before going to our hotel. It was a pretty cool museum in that it was built over ruins and has glass floors, so as you look down you can see the remains of ancient buildings below. It makes you think, everywhere in Athens there must be something amazing hidden below the surface, but what are you to do, tear up a whole city to find it? Additionally, it has an amazing view of the Parthenon from the top floor. It was interesting to see the Friezes on display next to the copies—one of the main reasons the New Acropolis Museum was built was so that there would be a suitable place to house those in the British Museum, and it was interesting to see the feud from inside the Greek museum.

That night the school proposed anyone who wanted could go out for a night at a traditional taverna and should meet in the lobby at 1030, and for 18 euros we would have unlimited food and drink. After waiting for an hour, during which everyone was getting more impatient and grumpy, they finally announced that they didn’t have a taverna and were still in the process of trying to find one. I was so upset at this, I couldn’t believe I just spent one hungry hour, having already paid, only to be told to keep waiting. Most people didn’t. My group of friends went out by themselves, but I stayed in Friday because whatever I ate that was bad that day suddenly hit me.

Our hotel was located right beside Monastiraki and Plaka, two really nice, cute, touristy districts that were really fun to walk around. Unfortunately, Athens is much like New Orleans in that there are really nice areas of the city right next to really bad areas, and on the other side of us was Omonia, where there are a lot of illegals and crime and we were warned not to head over there. (And on the other side of Omonia is the nicest and most wealthy neighborhood in Athens). However, a group of five girls went the wrong way that first night and they were jumped by about seven guys. They were all fine, but it was just a scary thing to have happen.

Day two we stopped at the first modern Olympic Stadium and then went on to the Parthenon. It was cool, but I’d already seen it and the weather wasn’t that great while we were up there—it was warm enough, but cloudy and windy. I’ll post a couple of pictures, but they really aren’t that great and it would be better if you just googled it. Afterwards we walked through the Plaka to visit the folklore museum, and then had lunch in Monastiraki. It was so delicious, with live music, but there was just too much food brought to the table; it was impossible.

Afterwards, we had free time and my friend Abby and I walked back through Plaka and Monastiraki, popping in stores to look and pick up a few souvenirs. This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip; the areas and stores we walked into were so cute and fun! I only really bought a pair of gladiators and some postcards, but it was fun to just look around. The best was in Monastiraki, on the way back to the hotel. Monastiraki is sort of like a big flea market where they sell antiques (or things that look close enough to antique), and we found this little tiny store on the far side that was just filled with old crap, but the best kinds of old crap. This old man’s store was filled with old books, pictures, postcards, posters, toys, knick-knacks, pots—you name it, he had it. I got two really cute posters and Abby got some old black and white family photos that were so cool; it was just fun to look around. We also got some drachmas and more old postcards walking along the streets.

Abby started bartering with one guy for this handmade pipe with a drachma on the bottom, and the vendor kept pointing out the drachma as proof it was old—we just kept pointing out the pile of drachmas he was selling to indicate it meant nothing. He was getting frustrated and said, “Look, it’s handmade! My friend made it….twenty years ago and left it for me….” Which just goes to show you all the stuff we got was probably made this year, but I’m OK with that!

We also walked through this park where all there people were making/selling jewelry. There was one guy running a stall who was from Argentina. He didn’t speak English and asked if we spoke Spanish. I said “Nei”. He kept talking to me in Spanish and I understood what he was saying, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember any words in Spanish and gave all my answers in Greek!

That night we went to a club not far from the hotel that was really fun, but the next morning I was up way before everyone else. I was starving to I went into Monastiraki and, craving a waffle, found this cute little ice cream place run by this old couple (Greeks only seem to eat waffles with ice cream, and I think they thought it was weird I wanted one so early until I said I didn’t want any παγωτό). I got to practice my Greek and then sit outside and watch as all the shops got ready for the day. The old couple loved me and called me κούκλα, doll.

Once everyone was awake we went to see the changing of the guards at the Parliament building. I wish we had skipped this and just gone straight home. The bus ride took forever and we didn’t get in until 930, and we I really could care less about that kind of stuff. On Sundays they have a little parade of soldiers and a band that accompanies it, but I don’t need to hang around for an hour to peep through some other tourists’ elbows to see guys in funny uniforms take really big steps.

Athens was fun and I’m glad I got to go again, but the school-trip setting wasn’t the best. We didn’t really have tour guides to explain things properly, and because we were such a large group even simple things took forever and we didn’t do nearly enough with our time to make it worthwhile.

In other news, we found a kitten today at school. There was a γατάκι under a car that some girls tried to get out for ages and finally managed, but then couldn’t find the mother. We spent a while cuddling this dirty, mangy, adorable kitten and feeding him milk-soaked bread, asking all the Greeks who passed if they could house a kitten. We finally found someone whose parents can take her, but until then Panepistimiou building will have a secret visitor for a few days…

Here’s some pictures! Not many, because I didn’t take many and also there aren’t that many good ones.

The top floor of the New Acropolis Museum, with all the Friezes and a panoramic view of the city and the Parthenon (I wasn’t supposed to take pictures inside, you’re lucky I snagged this one!)

On the way up to the Acropolis, an adorable little boy in the Greek old man hat.  The view by the amphitheater, Abby and I together. After that is a shot of the Coryatids on the Erechtheion (those are copies, we saw the real ones in the NAM). The next four are just shots around the Parthenon. I didn’t mean for the one of me to be so cheesy, it was just really windy up there!

Someone setting up their wares in Monastiraki. I loved walking around there and could have spent a whole extra day just there, looking at all the “antiques”, bartering in Greek with the vendors.

Shots from the changing of the guards. They took ridiculously huge steps with shoes with pom-poms on the end. Not super tough-looking. Lastly, some friendly αστυνομία in front of Parliament.

P.S. Do you like how much Greek I snuck in this one?

Yemista—That’s Some Yummy Stuff!

Today was yemista day! It was so delicious, and I am exhausted right now and going straight to sleep. Five hours of prepping and peeling and mixing and stirring and cooking. We made 35 yemista, two different types of salads, tzatziki from scratch, and served bread as well. When we bought the tomatoes and peppers for stuffing, we told the produce lady that it was because we were cooking for 15 people and she laughed and said, “you three?” We have some left over so we’re bringing it to her before we go to Athens tomorrow morning.

It was really nice, because we dragged everyone’s chairs out to the common room and all ate and talked together for a long time. It was much nicer than when we do family dinners at actual restaurants because instead of sitting at one long table, we were cozily clustered together and everyone could talk with everyone else, even at opposite ends of the table. We charged everyone just enough to barely cover the cost ingredients, so it really was a steal, considering all they had to do was was their own plates; doing the dishes afterwards was no picnic. In total, the whole process used 26 pots and pans (although we washed and recycled). We want to keep cooking on Thursdays but maybe not for the whole building; it’s just so much work! Nik was really sweet about it; he thanked us really nicely and told us that even though we might just get weak “thank you”s from a bunch of people, everyone really appreciates it and it’s the best dinner he’s had in forever, he understands how much work we put into it…it was really nice to hear that from someone. We did get applause, though. We’ll probably do it again, just not every Thursday. Too much!