Heidelberg

It’s currently about 10:30 in Germany and we are sitting at an Internet Café in the train station, waiting for our train. We are taking an overnight train to Prague- it is close to an 11 hour train ride. We paid about $50 to get beds- we figured it is cheaper than a hotel and will allow us to actually get some sleep. We’re excited and anxious to see how the overnight trains work- hopefully we get a good nights sleep. There could be up to four other people in our cabin so it could be tight.

This morning we woke up in Baden-Baden, had breakfast at the hotel, and checked our bags with the front desk. We then went to the ‘fun” bathhouse. We paid for our tickets, changed into our suits, and then entered the bath. The first floor had a lazy river, indoor/outdoor pools, heat lamps, a cold plunge, a aromatherapy steamroom, a waterfall you could stand under, etc. The second floor was nude and had foot baths, Jacuzzis, saunas, etc. The average age of the place was about 65 so we saw a lot of saggy boobs. It was fun, but not nearly as relaxing as the one we went to yesterday. Also, you were free to go where you wanted to, compared to yesterday where we had a routine. We liked having a routine; it gave some rhyme and reason to what we were doing. We left about 1:00 and had lunch at the Baden-Baden train stop.

We then took the train to Heidelberg, which is only about an hour away. Heidelberg is a big college town. I was excited about Heidelberg- there's a restaurant in Columbia, our college town, called Heidelberg- but we did very little research on the town and weren’t sure what to do. We got a map and some information from the tourist center and then headed off into the old town. There are lots of shops and restaurants on the cobblestone streets. We shopped for awhile (Kaydee, I got you something I think you’ll like…) and then headed across the river that divides the town. They have a steep hike to a lookout point over the town. It was pretty, but we are becoming a little bit of view snobs- we have seen so many pretty views lately that it is becoming hard to impress us.

After that we went back to the Old Town and did a little self-guided pub crawl. We went to several local places, including Hard Rock Café, and just got one drink at each place. We had dinner at a little Irish Pub. It was a good time, but definitely would have been better if we had done our research beforehand.

So, sort of a boring day. We have two days in Prague and then three days in Berlin, and then back to Kansas City! I read about the Air France flight last night- haven’t really been following the news- and am a little freaked out about flying internationally. That’s scary stuff. More tomorrow!

No Time for Modesty

We checked out of our hostel around 8:00 this morning and hopped on a train for a 4 hour ride to Baden-Baden. Baden-Baden is a small town (about 50,000 people) that we learned about from Rick Steves. It is known for its large, historic casino and for its spa bath houses. Neither Mark or I are into gambling so we focused on the bath houses.

When we got to the town, Mark and I got separated- I say he wondered off, but he would tell you that I did. I ended up finding our hotel and checking in; then set off to find him. After close to an hour of being separated I finally spotted him sitting on a bench. It’s tough without cell phones! Mark had lunch at a local place and I had McDonalds. One thing I’ve been meaning to type is how prevalent Burger King is over here. There are also a lot of McDonalds and Subways. The other US chain that we’ve seen quite a bit of is Claires, the teenage jewelry store. I had no idea they had an international presence.

After lunch we took the self-guided tour in my guidebook. Then we drank a little liquid courage to prepare for the baths.

So here’s the thing about the baths…if you only know me professionally you can stop reading now. They are in the nude. Totally in the nude. I was so nervous about this….definitely not a comfortable feeling for me….hence the need for some liquid courage. We figured "When in Rome...".....right??

We got there, bought our tickets, and stripped down. Boys and girls are separate for most of the time so I was by myself. I wondered around naked for awhile until a nice (fully clothed) lady led me the right way. You take a nice shower and then sit in a sauna. Just when I thought I was so hot I couldn’t handle it anymore, I went into the next room- it was an even hotter sauna!!! I didn’t stay in there long. Then I got a short (10 minute) massage with a soap brush- heavenly. The next 10 rooms were all pools of some sort….some hot, some cold. Some with jets, others just peaceful. Two of the rooms were with the guys…kinda weird. But after awhile you stop thinking about it. It’s funny how the attitude towards nudity differs between Americans and Europeans.

After those rooms, I went to the lotion room and covered myself with the stuff. Then I went to this room where they swaddle you like an infant. You lay there in your little cocoon, completely relaxed, very soft music playing in the background. You are so relaxed at this point. I feel completely asleep and didn’t wake up until some lady came in and started rubbing my legs. Our friend Larry always talks about being “zen” and that’s exactly how I felt- totally, completely Zen. That’s pretty much it- the whole thing takes about 3 hours.

Baden-Baden is known for this…it used to be where all the rich and famous people would come to relax and gamble. Today it’s pretty touristy, although many locals still frequent the spas. No pictures today…I’ll spare you that. J

Tomorrow is a pretty free day. They have another, non-nude bath that we may check out. It’s supposed to be less relaxing but more fun. At some point we will take the train to Heidelberg and spend the day there. It’s doubtful I will have internet access tomorrow night- we are taking the overnight train to Prague (this is a change of plans- we originally planned to stay in Heidelberg). So tomorrow day Heidelberg, tomorrow night train, and Friday in Prague! Can’t wait!

Cliff Jumping and More

Okay, first things first before we get to the exciting stuff.

Woke up this morning in Interlaken, Switzerland. Here is a picture of our hostel…the bar downstairs:
And our room:

We sort of already knew this, but we have learned that Switzerland is VERY expensive. VERY. As in, we were going to go to this Mexican place for lunch but one quesadilla was over $20. We went to McDonalds instead- We both got fries, I got a hamburger, Mark got 2 cheeseburgers and a drink….and it was $20. Not exaggerating. The Swiss are very proud of their products- their cheese, chocolate, watches, and army knives and other outdoor gear. We have seen lots of Swiss flags (which is in sharp contrast to Germany, who is not very patriotic because of the weapon national patriotism was once used as) and many signs advertise “Swiss made.”

This morning I woke up before Mark to souvenir shop. I was feeling brave, so I stopped by the hotel desk to sign us up for our adventures. They have everything here…skydiving, hang gliding, bungee jumping, etc. But more about that in a second. After souvenir shopping we walked around town. We stumbled across a little chocolate bar- I was in heaven! We selected about 9 pieces of mouth-watering chocolate and got it in a to-go bag. We took it to a place we had seen earlier that was a wide-open green space. We thought it was probably a park, but when we got close we noticed it was roped off and thought that was strange. We sat on a bench facing the green area with the mountains behind it and thought about how lucky we are to be here- then all these parachuters started falling from the sky! It was a parachute landing area! We watched about a dozen people land as we ate our chocolate.

As I’ve mentioned before, Interlaken is a small town (<6,000 residents), but is well-known for two things- Extreme sports and the mountain Jungfrau, which I believe is the highest point in Europe. We didn’t have enough time to do Jungfrau so we concentrated on the extreme sports. After lunch it was time to go…and I was scared to death.

The first thing we did was something called canyoning, which I had never heard of before. You put on all this gear- two wetsuits, water sock/shoe things, a lifevest, a helmet, and a harness with a plastic tarp thing over your butt. They drive you up in the Alps, and you hike 10 minutes to reach a BEAUTIFUL natural water source. The water goes all the way down the mountain running over rocks, around corners, and creating waterfalls. Then we got into the water to get back down the mountain. At times we repealed, other times we laid on our backs in the water and let the current carry us around twists and turns. Other times we walked under giant waterfalls, slid on our butts down rocks, or jumped sideways off a rock into a small pool. We even went down natural waterfalls backwards. It was so cool! Because we were in the water, we could not take pictures, but we did buy some from the tour company. They were actually a reasonable price. However, they gave us a CD of all the pictures and this computer does not have a CD drive, so I’m pretty bummed that I can’t look at them, let alone post them, yet.

After that it was time to do the REALLY SCARY one- something called canyon jumping. If you didn't see the video from my first post today, watch it....I swear, you have to be insane to do this. I was so scared. They drive you 30 minutes up a mountain to get to this huge natural canyon with a river rushing below it. Then you go out on this little platform, attached only to a rope, and jump. You free fall 150 feet, stopping 10-15 feet above the river. Then you swing. You miss one of the canyon walls by only 10 feet. Did I say I was scared?

Mark jumped before me, and he lived. He’s scared of heights so I was very proud of him. Then a few other people went….and then it was my turn. After a little encouraging I jumped off the platform and started falling…and falling….and falling. I wondered if people who commit suicide by jumping off things have second thoughts when they’re on the way down. I couldn’t believe I was still falling, so I just shut my eyes and screamed. Eventually I reached the end of the fall and started swinging between the canyon walls like Tarzan. What a rush!!!

See that platform at the very top? That's what we jumped off of.

This is what it looks like from the top:

Before I went:

That little black dot is me! So fun!

Today was a great day. Not sure what we will do tonight since things close early and are expensive. I haven’t been too impressed with the actual town of Interlaken, but we did have an amazing time here. I’m also very excited about what we have planned tomorrow, but you’ll have to read again to find out. Cheers!!

We're alive!!!!

Full post to come later....

Today Could Be My Last Day on Earth

Moms, Dads, Siblings....At 9:00 AM your time, we will be jumping off a cliff and swinging through a canyon. To view what we will be doing, watch this video (It has sound).

I am terrified. If we don't make it, we love you.

Trains and Mountains

I can’t believe it’s June already! We are halfway through our trip…woke up really missing my family, friends, and dogs.

We slept in Munich last night, and left about 8:30 this morning for Innsbruck, Austria. Our classmates went back to Munich, but Mark and I are continuing on our own from here, so we packed our bags this morning and brought them to Innsbruck with us. We put them in a locker at the Innsbruck train station so we wouldn’t have to carry them around all day.

Innsbruck is known for being a winter sports town. Its nickname is the Capital of the Alps. The Winter Olympics have been held here twice. As you can imagine, it is very beautiful.

Since we were leaving early, we didn’t have much time- we basically popped in and out. We took the bus to a cable car lift and rode the car up the mountain. We thought the cable cars might hold four or so people, but it is more like thirty. We took the cable car to the midway point and briefly looked around- we were more rushed than the class since our train left early.

As we were looking around, I noticed Mark wasn’t wearing the bag he had been this morning- the bag he left in Salzburg on Friday that still had our passports in it...so I asked him where it was. His eyes got really big and he quickly turned on his heel and took off in a sprint. Hahaha! Luckily they took it off the cable car and the guard had it, so it was no problem. I'm happy to say that the passports are now in my bag.


We went as high as the cable cars would take us, and then took a very short hike to the summit. As we rounded a corner on our hike, we came across some wild sheep/goat/llama things! Haha, I don’t know what they actually were, but it was magical to come across these animals. WE CAME ACROSS WILD ANIMALS IN THE ALPS!!!!! How often does that happen?? It was almost unreal. They were tagged so they must be tracked somehow, but I have to think they’re wild- who would farm animals at the top of the Alps? One was very friendly and came right up to me, but he was the only one who liked me. It was an awesome moment; one of my favorite on the trip so far.

From there we continued on, mostly just taking in the views. It was so beautiful. I wish I had a panoramic camera to capture it better. The summit we hiked had a cross at the very top. I have no idea why it was there or what it was from, but it was very cool. And appropriate- I can’t help but praise God at moments like this. I can feel His power and majesty and feel how very very small I am. Here’s a picture of the cross from the top and from a few hundred feet down.

And some pictures of the beautiful Alps, including my signature handstand pic:

Throughout our trip, we have often relied on friendly strangers to help us out. We have been impressed by how eager to help most people have been, sometimes without us even asking. We know very little German- we can say ‘Can you speak English?’,’ We don’t speak German’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, etc. Something funny happened today. We were taking the bus from the mountain to the train station. We knew we had a connection but weren’t sure where it was, and the driver spoke very little English. Another passenger was going the same place we were, but he also spoke very little English. He managed to lead us there using a few common words and lots of gestures. We were very thankful for his help, so as we were departing I gave him a big wave and heartfelt “Bitte!!!”, thinking I was telling him thank you….as he walked away I realized I just told him Please!!, or You’re Welcome!!! (they use the same word for both)....pretty embarrassing.

Now we are on a train on our way to Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s a 6 hour train ride with 3 changes- not so fun. We’re trying to make the best of it- we bought snacks and drinks at the last station. We have first class tickets…long story, but I thought we were required to buy them and now I’m not so sure….but the first class cars are nice so I’m not complaining. We have a private room with a door, the seats lay down, we can control the temperature, and we have outlets- none of these are available in the normal cars we’ve been using up to now. Here’s Mark:

And me, writing this very post!

It’s currently 5:40 Germany time, 10:40 Kansas City time. I won’t be able to post this for several hours…we don’t get to Interlaken until close to midnight Germany time, 5:00 KC time. We are staying in a hostel for the first time and I am excited/nervous about that. We will be there for two nights. Interlaken is one of the stops I am most looking forward to…it’s known for extreme sports! More about that tomorrow….

Update: It’s now 5:45 KC time, 12:45 Germany time. We’ve checked into our hostel. It’s interesting…it’s pretty much just a bar downstairs, and then you walk upstairs to your room. I think it has 15 rooms total. Hostels often have shared rooms, with anywhere from 4-16 to a room, but we have a private room. We have a sink in our room but not a bathroom. The bathrooms are private- each one has a toilet, sink, and shower- but they are shared by everyone on the floor. Anyway, tomorrow should be a fun day….no idea what we will do, but I’m trying to talk Mark into jumping off a cliff. I’ll let you know.

Quite the Weekend

A lot has happened since I last wrote! Remember how I came home from the beer garden early and Mark stayed? Well I had a nice night that night….I updated this journal, packed up a few things, and then went to relax in the sauna. I got hot in the sauna so was laying out reading when Mark walks in. He says “Do you have our bag?!” I didn’t. I had left it at the beer garden with Mark. The bag has our passports, Mark’s MP3 player, and Mark’s Kindle. Luckily no money. Mark thought he had left it in the cab on the way to the train. After about 3 heart-pounding hours with the help from our professor’s wife and the nice hotel clerk, we located the bag with a cab company in Salzburg.

Now we had to figure out how to get this stuff back- we were due to leave early the next morning with our classmates. Our professor encouraged us to get the stuff immediately. We left even earlier on our own, took a 1.5 hour train to Salzburg, got a $80 ticket on the train because our train pass was only valid for the 2 hour train, got to Salzburg, met someone who noticed my Mizzou luggage tag and was also from Missouri, encountered a rude cab driver who refused to take us to the police station where our bag was, managed to get to the station anyway, rushed back to catch the train to Munich, and finally made it back to our starting point. Then we grabbed a quick lunch and hopped on a 3.5 hour train to Rothenburg to meet our classmates. We had to change trains twice on this journey, with only 5 minutes in between each. Stressful day. 7 hours on a train before 4:00, but having our passports and electronics back was priceless. Lesson learned: Don’t leave Mark in charge of our bags.

All of the stress melted away as we arrived in Rothenburg. Cutest. Town. Ever. This town oozed charm. Rothenburg is the main stop on a path known as the “Romantic Road.” It was indeed romantic.
Rothenburg was once one of Germany’s largest cities. The city’s heyday was from 1150 to 1400. It’s protected by a wall that goes all the way around the city. In the 1600s, the city suffered damage in the 30 year war and slipped into poverty. Unable to rebuild, the city is preserved as a true medieval town. The streets are all cobblestone. The houses are a scene from a picture book. Entering the gates, you feel yourself taking a step back in time.

We started by checking into our hotel. The city has no chains of anything- stores, restaurants, hotels…so ours was family-run, just like all of them are. It was adorable. It has 70 rooms so it is a legitimate hotel, but it felt more like a bed and breakfast. I was unable to get a picture that captured the room, but I did take this one out of our window:

We then set off to explore the town. Grandma gave me a Rick Steves guidebook that has proved quite handy. We did the self-guided tour from the book and learned about the history of the town. We learned, for example, that there used to be a moat leading up to the castle (which was destroyed and not rebuilt) and the wall. The door from that moat remains today. At that time, they had a curfew for all of their citizens to return inside the towns walls. If you missed curfew, you could still enter- but you had to pay a fine. Here’s me trying to fit into that 700-year-old hole:

We ended up in town center, which was very busy. This is a festival weekend- it’s much like Kansas City’s Renaissance Festival, only the entire town is the festival. And it’s actually a medieval town. So there were all these old-time people walking around, and there was lots of horse poop. Lots and lots of horse poop. Not a good mix with the cobblestone!

Last night we met up with our classmates for the Night Watchman’s Tour. This guy gives the tour every night, and it’s very popular. Rick Steves calls him the medieval Jerry Seinfeld. We laughed a lot and learned little trinkets of knowledge, like that the word “salary” comes from the word salt, because it was once so valuable that it was used as currency. Notice how cute the row of houses behind him are- the entire town is like this.

Today we had breakfast with our classmates and then hit the town. We went through the Crime and Punishment Museum, where we learned about ancient torture techniques. It was pretty dangerous to be a baker those days. Bread was a very important food, and if you messed it up, you could be put in a box and dipped in cold water. If you did something shameful, you had to wear a “shame mask” that made your sin obvious- for example, if you were gossipy, you had to wear a mask with big ears and a long tongue. Another way they punished people was by having them sit in the town center and putting their feet through this thing so that they couldn’t move. Anyone that walked by could tickle your feet, and sometimes they would put sugar on your feet for the goats to lick off. And if you created a drunken disturbance, you would be put in a cage in town center so that everyone could laugh at you. The museum was educational and fun.

We grabbed a delicious Italian lunch and then set off to look at the wall. It’s pretty cool; you can climb up the steps and walk around the perimeter of it, and you can climb up the towers and look at the villages below. Here’s a view of how the wall looks:

And here’s Mark sitting on a low part of the wall- it’s actually about 20 feet tall, but it’s built on a hill:

After this we walked around until it was time to leave. The thing that makes Rothenburg so great are the small things you come across like old people in love:

And random parks overlooking the villages:

We fell in love in Rothenburg- with the town and a little more with each other.

Tomorrow we go to Innsbruck in Austria- the Winter Olympics have been held here twice. Then we leave the class and go on our own to Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s finally starting to feel more like vacation and less like work/school!