Friday, June 28, 2013
Strasbourg, France and then home to friends!
Today we got to go to our third country on our trip through
Germany, to France! It was filled with
enchanting architecture, delicious pastries, and rain. Sadly, it rained most of the time we were in
the old city of Strasbourg in Alsace region, but it never seemed to affect our
excitement in being in a new country.
We arrived in France with our rain coats on and umbrellas
open and began walking toward the cathedral.
Every corner we turned seemed to make our jaws drop even more in awe as
one site was more beautiful than another.
We came upon the Cathedral of Our
Lady of Strasbourg with its Gothic architecture and high ceilings, detailed
interior along with multi-colored stain-glassed windows. We walked through the church admiring all the
statutes and other art works but the astronomical clock was my favorite. All the different zodiac signs lined the rim
of this large clock with the solar system in the middle showing how all the
signs lined up with our sky.
We then went on a boat tour through the canals of this
marvelous city. Though it was raining,
you could still make out the buildings of Strasbourg through our glass-covered
board, listening to random stories of the past.
The strangest story was heard was about a monk who got stuck in the
frame of a window when there was a fire and caused the death of twenty
people. This was all because he could
not fit through a window.
After the boat tour we went to an Alsatian restaurant which
had all our taste buds wanting even more though we were all full! We ended our visit to France by walking
through the town window shopping and laughing as the sun began to peer through
the lurking gray clouds.
We returned to school where we met our host families and returned
to their homes. There Breadwoman (Deborah)
and I played board games and ate chocolate until neither of us could keep our
eyes open any longer. It is sad to think
we have to leave but today made me realize that I will definitely come back so
I can see all the new friends I have made along with the ones I have made
stronger bonds with and to visit all the sites I have seen and see more of the
wonderful country of Germany and its neighboring nations.
Eliana
Eliana
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25th
The Rhine River begins in the Swiss Alps, flows into Lake Constance
located in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, and then flows west
towards France. It makes a sharp turn
north at the “knee bend” of the Rhine.”
This spot is located at the three corners of France, Germany and the
tiny neutral nation of Switzerland. Organized
by our gracious hosts, this one-day excursion to Basel, Switzerland, “the center
on the fringe,” was a delightful complement to our school visit.
After riding for an hour on the Duetsche Bahn, our
introduction to Basel began with a ferry crossing of the Rhine River. Our ferry had been “wool bombed,” an
expression used to describe the knitted blanket created by city artisans to
cover the rooftop of the ferry. We
encountered both multi-colored and black-and-white covered ferries, such an
unusual sight! A fellow passenger on the
ferry asked us to sing our national anthem which we all did. We then disembarked and climbed the hill into
the center of the most important cultural center of Switzerland.
Our guided tour began at the Tinguely Fountain which was
constructed from industrial machine parts in 1977 by Swiss sculptor Jean
Tinguely. Our guide then shared the
origins of this well-preserved medieval city, pointing out three gates which still
remain of the original seven constructed in 1376 after the Basel
Earthquake. The city is full of
Protestant churches as it was one of the original cities which embraced the
Reformation. We visited the Munster
Cathedral built of local red sandstone and covered with polished green and
white tiles. It closely resembled the
cathedral in Freiburg which we had visited the previous day. We then headed toward the Rathaus, also built
of this red sandstone and covered with frescoes of life in the city over the
ages.
The food we experienced was tasty and authentic. We were treated to a typical Swiss lunch of
soup, salad and several choices of entrees.
I picked Rosti, a Swiss dish made of potatoes, onions and pears. Simply delicious! Most especially since the weather had turned
unseasonably chilly and we were quite cold!
After browsing the shops, we headed back to Freiburg where
Bullis students were met by their host families with open arms. We look forward
to another day of adventure and hospitality in this most gem of a city,
Freiburg!
Monday, June 24, 2013
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