Oui, Oui! It's time for Paris!

Yes that's right my lovely blog readers - I am going to Paris this weekend! Max is picking me up after my German class tomorrow and we are heading right out to the Autobahn! Er, actually... That may not be true as I'm not quite clear on the route to Paris, but I'm pretty sure the Autobahn will be involved.

Anyways, I am terribly excited as I have always, always, always wanted to go to Paris. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'Dayna... Isn't there a great deal of civil unrest going on in Paris right now because that handsome Sarkozy fellow wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62? Aren't there riots and strikes going on throughout the entire country of France for that matter!?' Why yes, lovely blog readers, yes there is. But, I'm afraid that cannot stop me. Besides these strikes could be going on the entire time I'm in Europe and then what would I do!? Just not see Paris? Sacre bleu! How could you ever suggest such a thing! So that settles it, I am going to Paris this weekend come hell or high water. But don't you worry mutter and vater (yes, you Cheryl and Gary I know you are reading this thing), I will be very careful!

Alright now that the worrying is over (cut it out you two!), time to list all the fun Paris-y things I will do this weekend! First and foremost we have the obvious sights, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre Dame, and the Louvre. Now I really want to visit the Musee d'Orsay but we will have to see if there is time for that one because Max is incredibly adamant on the Louvre.

Now, just because I am in Europe doesn't mean I have forgotten what holiday is steadily approaching. Since people here do not recognize the gem of a holiday that is Halloween, I have also planned two somewhat spooky sights to see whilst in Paris. The first, and less spooky, is the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise - it's the world's most visited cemetery and it boasts some pretty big names: Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few. Jim Morrison is also burried here but I don't think I shall visit his grave as that might just be too spooky (The Doors movie really freaked me out). The next Halloween-y thing I want to do in Paris is take the tour of the Catacombes. The Catacombes is an unused section of the Paris sewage system that is filled with skeletons. I kid you not - in the late 1700s, the cemeteries of Paris were basically overflowing with dead bodies. As you could imagine, this caused a lot of hygeine problems. So, it was decided to put this empty section of the sewage system to use and store the bones of the all deceased Parisians there. When you go for the tour of the Catacombes you are taken 20 metres underground and walked through 1.7km  of tunnels with skeletons lining the walls! Eeeek - now if that's not the perfect Halloween activity then I don't know what is.

If you have any suggestions of must sees in Paris - let me know s'ils vous plait! Or, if you want more info on some of the sights I plan to see, check out this website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris

Anyways, I suppose it is time I start packing - my toughest endeavour yet. Can you imigane me packing for three days in Paris!? It's going to be a nightmare. Scarier than the Catacombes! Well, er, no probably not.

Bisou bisou!

I am Queen of German class. Hear me röär!

I just finished my first German class! Yay!

I am taking my German class at the Heidelberg Padagogium which is a very cute little school on the other side of the bridge. The padagogium is a tall narrow old buidling with lots of stairs and a neat little courtyard in the middle where you can park your bike, drink coffee, or smoke a cigarettes. Unless of couse, you are the secretary of the school and then you can smoke cigarettes in your office. I kid you not - the receptionist whom I purchased my work books from was puffing away on a cigarette! Inside! Inside the office! Oh well I guess I will have to get used to the fact that people can smoke just about anywhere. Ooooooooh culture clash! 

Anyways, it turns out that German class is quite fun! There are only 8 people in the class - sadly no other Canadians, but still very lovely people! There are only three people in the class whose first language is English (myself and two British boys), the rest of the class is a mix of Italians, French, Spanish, and a couple of accents that I couldn't tell you where they came from to be honest! Even the teacher doesn't really speak English much at all, the whole class is taught in German. Surprisingly, I found myself following along rather well. Today we learnt basic greetings and introduction questions, which I already knew (thanks Rosetta Stone!). We also learnt the alphabet and numbers which was quite helpful! I think so far I am one of the better students in the class, as I have yet to be corrected or asked to repeat anything and when I was saying my numbers the teacher said 'super!'. Yes I know, 'super' can you believe it? Look at me go!

One of the new German words I learned today is hausaufgabe, the German word for homework, and lots of it - Wah! I am actually a bit excited to do my homework today but I assume that by next Monday I will feel quite differently.

Ok time for a little snooze - my first early morning since arriving in Deutschland has left me feeling a little wiped out and I need to rest up before hitting the books. Auf wiedersehen!

PS: I can't seem to convert the spell check from German to English so I am being risque and publishing this post sans spell check! Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors - I did my best! Thanks.

German Eats

Before I left Thunder Bay, my very wise grandfather told me 'Germans aren't really known for their food, you know!' And so far I can't really argue. While both Max and his mother are excellent cooks and have made me some delicious meals, I have yet to enjoy any true German cuisine. 

Here are some photos of some of the interesting German dishes I have been sampling!

Max's mom's home made pumpkin soup. Delish!

The Nürnbuger from McDonalds! (I didn't actually eat this but I felt the picture was worth sharing).

Knödel and rot kraut. This wasn't really a favourite of mine.

Some strange soup I had at Max's school cafeteria. The larger balls of dough have meat in them from 'the inside of animals bones'. Yuck. I had a few bites of this before heading home to heat up left overs of the pumpkin soup. 

 Even though the last two dishes were super gross not exactly to my liking, I have ate lots of delicious food so far... It just hasn't been German food. Oh well! I have high hopes for the Nürnburger!

Too much Breaking Bad not enough sight seeing!

It's been a pretty low key week here in Heidelberg, so  I don't have too much to blog about.

On Friday, Max and I went to Mannheim in search of all you can eat sushi. We did find it but it was a buffet set up and didn't look too appetizing so we tried our luck at another sushi restaurant which was equally disappointing. We have now given up hope of finding good sushi in Germany. Oh well - there is plenty of other tasty things to eat like schnitzel and the many varieties of wurst.

Other than that the weekend has been pretty uneventful. Yesterday we ran some errands and went to a birthday  party at night and we have spent most of today watching Breaking Bad and cleaning the house.

So - to make up for my lack of exciting news I will post some photos of what I have been doing so far! Enjoy!

 The old water tower in Mannheim

 The bridge in Heidelberg

 Streets of Heidelberg

Me in the aformentioned monkey statue - hehe. 

 Max in a cool used book shop.

The view of Heidelberg from the top of a very steep hill.

Rainy Days in Deutschland

The word of the day week is: regenschirm. 

Regenschirm means umbrella. As in 'Gee, I could really use a regenschirm right about now.' I just walked down from Max's apartment to the Heidelberg Uni library and proceeded to get absolutely soaked.  Apparently it is going to rain all week here too which is a shame.However I can't complain because Heidelberg is a wonderful place to be - rain or shine!

So far I am having a lovely time in Germany even though the weather is not cooperating. I arrived last Thursday afternoon with big plans to explore the town, see the castle, visit the famed monkey sculpture, eat schnitzel, etc., etc. However I proceeded to spend all of Thursday sleeping.  I made up for my snoozing with lots of sight seeing on Friday though - I even stuck my face in the monkey sculpture (I will explain that one later, as it is a bit of a long story but nothing out of the ordinary - don't you worry). Heidelberg is a really beautiful town with lots of history; the streets are narrow and made of cobble stone, there is an old bridge with pretty little archways and stately old houses in the hills and there is a giant (some what decaying) castle on the hill overlooking all of Heidelberg. Even the library I am sitting in right now is over 500 years old! I will try and upload some pictures shortly but in the mean time just picture the opening credits from The Sound of Music (I know that takes place in Austria, but really it looks very much like Heidelberg).

Over the weekend, we went to visit Max's mom in Bad Bergzabern (Max's home town). Bergzabern is an adorable little town of about 6000 people in the German countryside.  We had a very nice visit but like today, it was raining, so we mainly stayed in the house doing a puzzle and looking at photos from Max's childhood. This was particularly fun for me as I got to see all the different phases of Max: '80s baby Max, '90s child Max, and Max looking like an awkward teenager on his exchange in Thailand (with bleach blonde hair)!

Today is the first day Max has had school since I arrived so it is my first time exploring Heidelberg solo. So far I have walked five minutes to come to the library. I have thought about just going back to the apartment but I really want to try and do some sort of errands on my own and practice the little German I know.  I am going to be starting German lessons here next Monday - thank goodness! I will be going five days a week to a class of about 10-15 people, so hopefully I can meet some other English speaking folk staying in Heidelberg. Maybe even some Canadians! Anyways I do feel it is time I venture out of the library to do something - I think I will attempt to grab a cup of coffee or pick up some postcards. Or maybe even buy a regenshirm!

Pre-packing Procrastination

 In the midst of my hectic and very last minute preparation for my big trip to Deutschland, I had the idea to start a blog. Partially to practice writing, partially to keep my friends and family up to date on my travels, but mainly so I would have something to do in case Germany turns out to be incredibly intimidating and I spend the majority of my time in Max's apartment. Naturally the perfect time to create said blog is at 2:00 in the morning the night before I leave and well before I have finished packing.

I am leaving Thunder Bay at 11:00 this morning and although I am feeling rather nervy about my first time traveling over the pond I am even more excited. I've got my Rosetta Stone, my maple leaf luggage tag, my Lonely Planet phrase book and one incredibly handsome tour guide!

Wish me luck and I promise to keep you well informed as I see the sights and struggle with the German language - hilarity will ensue (hopefully)!