Running: Great Prep for ... more running

Back in April my host family told me about a triathlon put on by their running club, Weltraumjogger. The Volkstriathlon conveniently takes place in Zehlendorf, our neighborhood, but the 400 or so spots go quickly. They offered to sign me up then if I was interested. I decided to go for it, a decision which led to me getting up around 6am today so that I could go jump in a lake, bike up Berlin's only mountain, and run in circles. What a great way to start the day!

My host dad giving the pre-race talk on Saturday

Really, I had a blast, and I'm glad my legs are so tired now because it tells me that I tried hard. I even did some training for this race. My host mom and I went out on a bike ride about two weeks ago, because they lent me a racing bike for the triathlon and wanted to give me a chance to test it out and see how it fit. We rode up to the Grünewaldturm, a tower at the top of a hill which at 80m tall claims the title of the only "mountain" in Berlin. Not as unbelievably steep as the course in the Principia tri I did with my mom last summer, but still a grueling ride. When I was with my host mom we also took the time to go up in the Grünewaldturm and look out across Berlin. Always a fun activity in my opinion.

Then a week and a half ago I took part in a Probewettkampf, or practice race. Weltraumjogger (the running club) was organizing a small triathlon for their annual Clubmeisterschaft. Don't let me deceive you, this tri was small in terms of participation, but still a full length triathlon with a 400m swim, 18km bike and 5.5km run. I finished around the back of a pack of very serious runners and triathletes, but it was a lot of fun and a great chance to practice transitioning and swimming.

During the practice tri

And then today was the big day! 700m swim, 19km bike, 5km run. I haven't gotten my official time back but I think I finished around 1hr:35, which means I beat my goal of 1:45. The swim was an open water swim. The lake was small so I didn't notice any current. Despite my slow pace, which landed me towards the back of the group, people seemed to pop out of no where when I arrived at the narrow chute to get out of the lake. The biking went well, and somehow the running almost felt good.

A moving target is hard to photograph but thanks to Hilary for this one!

But the very best part came as I rounded the second to last curve and saw Maria, who started yelling my name. When I reached her she sprinted a few yards with me to the last curve. Then I saw Emma and Hilary also standing by, taking pictures and sticking a hand out for a high five. It was so exciting to see my friends in the crowd. The kids I know had been cheering for me when I passed the water station, which was encouraging and really fun, but seeing my friends out there was really special. Thanks guys!

They're the best!

Before my next triathlon I would really like to practice the swimming, but there are very few swimming pools in Berlin, and those pools are very expensive, so that wasn't really an option for me this time around. You can swim in any of the three lakes that are within biking distance of my house (three lakes, isn't that awesome?) but it took a while for the water and weather to warm up enough to make that possible. Running has always been my go-to form of exercise, because for me running is fun. I know that's a crazy thought to many people. But I like the combination of mental and physical strength, and all you need are shoes and you can go wherever you want. The one problem: running only gets you in shape for more running! I like tris because they encourage me to branch out, and remind me that as much as I love running, it's okay to mix it up every once in a while. And I found this such a cool way to be a part of the German community, and see a lifestyle in action that tourists rarely see. Plus I have a fairly broad triathlon-related vocabulary now.

Me and my host mom. It's alcohol-free beer, I promise. 

There's just one more athletic challenge left now: I found a race the night before I leave Berlin, so I'm going to say goodbye to the city with a 10k on July 30th!

The Long Awaited Adventure

Finally, I made it to Iceland! I can't believe that trip is behind me now. I've been wanting to visit Iceland since spring of 2008, and I've been holding on to these plane tickets since the beginning of March, making this the first trip I planned, as well as my last big trip until I travel with my Aunt Kye at the end of my semester. And what an amazing trip to such a beautiful country!

My first glimpse of Iceland!

I arrived in Reykjavik around 11pm on Thursday the 16th. Sigríður, who is only a few months younger than me and was an exchange student at West for the spring semester of our senior year, was there at the airport to pick me up. I met her roommates, Elín and Heiðrún, and we all spent Thursday evening chatting, telling stories, and enjoying refreshments at Sigríður's parent's house, where her older sister was having friends over for a birthday party. As we were sitting in her living room it felt like no time was passing, because the sky only dimmed a little. We left around 2am to take Sigríður's friends downtown and then Sigríður and I went to her new apartment to sleep. There's a two hour difference between Berlin and Reykjavik so I was ready to sleep, and Sigríður had work the next day.

Friday happened to be Iceland's Independence Day, which made walking around town that day a blast. Sigríður had to work from 11a-11p, but I managed to entertain myself. I went downtown with her and then spent the next six hours wandering around, occasionally checking in at her restaurant to let her know how I was doing. I loved walking through the streets and seeing so many people out, and there were all sorts of festive decorations, Icelandic flags everywhere, kids with balloons of every cartoon character imaginable, and even two small marching bands playing Lady Gaga and other popular songs. I spent a reflective half an hour in the Catholic church and enjoyed watching an Australian street performer. I stumbled across the famous hot dog stand Bæjarins beztu pylsur, which means the best hotdog in town, where after eating a delicious pylsur I joined the ranks of Bill Clinton and almost every Icelander.

"The best hot dog in town"

I also, of course, found a place where  I could get a view: Halgrimmskirkja. Halgrimmskirkja is a fairly new Protestant church, finished in 1986 and built on a hill, where you can go up into the tower and look out across Reykjavik. Very windy at the top but also very cool!

Looking out at the Reykjavik downtown area

Around dinner time or so Elín came in to town to pick me up. We walked through the streets a little more and grabbed some food and chatted for a while as we watched a live band. After an hour or so we headed home to relax while waiting for Sigríður to get off work. We decided to pass the time by watching Gilmore Girls, which was our relaxation choice for the weekend. Sigríður got off work around 11 as planned, and after picking her up we also picked up some ice cream and just enjoying hanging out together the rest of the night.

On Saturday Sigríður, Elín and Heiðrún had something exotic planned, or at least exotic to me. Our big event of the day was visiting the Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spring turned into a spa, so named because of the milky blue color of the 6 million liters of geothermal seawater in the lagoon. The temperature is warm but comfortable. Because of the specialties of this ecosystem no chlorine or other chemicals are needed to keep the water clean. It's a beautiful 45 min drive from Sigríður's house.

Blue Lagoon

One of the specialties of the Blue Lagoon is the silica mud which is very good for your skin, so they have buckets of the mud along the edge of the lagoon, and you can just take a scoop and slather it all over your face. It really is a wonderful feeling, sitting in the warm, blue water of the lagoon, and once you wash the silica mud off your face feels so smooth and refreshed! And the scenery is unbeatable.

Heiðrún, Elín and myself looking good with mud masks

After returning refreshed and rejuvenated we stopped by a gathering of Sigríður's friends to share some cupcakes and chitchat. At first one friend offered to only speak in English, but I said while that was very friendly I didn't want everyone to talk in English just for me, so I enjoyed listening to the waves of Icelandic and sharing the occasional comment with Sigríður or Elín. I saw a few of those girls later, because after dinner some of Sigríður's friends came over to her place to hang out before we went downtown for the night. We had a blast, and it was crazy to walk around in the sunlight during the middle of the night. The sun rose again very soon after it set, so it never got darker than dusk. It made me feel like time was moot and like we were making our own strange schedule, forcing ourselves to sleep during daylight. I thought it was the coolest thing.

Sigríður  and I Saturday night

Sunday was an outdoor adventure day! Iceland is know not only for its special Icelandic horses and wool, but also for all of its geologic anomalies. Geysers, volcanoes, glaciers, lava rocks. and hot springs abound. Thus adventure sports and recreation activities such as hiking, camping and white water rafting are very popular, among locals and tourists alike. On Sunday we headed out to a section of the Hvítá River, 1 1/2 hours east of Reykjavik, for some white water rafting.

Iceland is beautiful.

Sigríður had met two American tourists on Friday at her restaraunt and, keeping it short, she ended up inviting them with us on Sunday. Paul and Paul are two good friends from the New York/New Jersey area, and the four of us had a really fun time together, just chatting about the States and Iceland and hearing everyone's stories. The drive to the rafting base camp was beautiful, and despite Sigríður's insistence that she had no idea where we were going, she got us to camp with fifteen minutes to spare. The rafting was so exciting. Even though the rapids weren't as huge as some I've rafted on, they were big enough to be exciting. And the ride also included the chance to jump into the freezing cold glacier water from a 5meter high cliff! Sigríður and I both jumped, though it took a 10 year old going first to convince us we wouldn't freeze before resurfacing. They had outfitted us in wet suits, fleece jackets, splash jackets, and diving boots, but I was still gasping for air the whole swim back to shore!

Sigríður and myself with the two Pauls after rafting

On the drive home we continued along the Golden Circle, the scenic route, to visit the famous geysers Geysir (yes, the word for geyser comes from this one!) and Strokkar in the geothermically active Haukadalur valley, and a spectacular two-tiered waterfall named Gullfoss. One thing the waterfall is famous for is how close you're allowed to get to it, but it was very windy and we were still cold from rafting so we settled for soaking in the view from afar.

Geysir

By Gullfoss. The drop you see is the first and smaller drop.

After arriving in Reykjavik we had time to drop the boys off at their hotel before going to Sigríður's house, where I met her parents and two sisters for a delicious, home cooked Icelandic meal. We had lamb, potatoes and salad, and after such an adventurous day it was exactly what I needed. And I was so thrilled to be about to meet Sigríður's family, after the time she was able to spend with my family  while she was in the States! Then it was back to the apartment to gather my things before heading to the airport around 11pm. My flight left at 1:30am on Monday, and I was back home around 6:30am local time.

I know I had a lot of really high expectations for this trip; it's what happens when you plan something for a really long time. But thankfully, this trip exceeded my expectations. Even though I did not miraculously learn to speak Icelandic during my four days there, I still got a kick out of hearing a language that is so foreign to me. I like to tell myself that by the end I was getting a better feel for the rhythm of the language. And I loved the stark, wild beauty of the country. My timing certainly didn't hurt--as a person that loves the outdoors and the warmth of the sun the constant light was a fun component. Winter would be tough for me. But most of all, I got to see Sigríður at her home, in her element, and catching up with her and being able to ask her about everything around was what made the trip worth it. I would recommend a visit to Iceland to anyone who has the opportunity, even if they don't know anyone there, because it's a gorgeous, fascinating country. But because of Sigríður I was able to do and see things that normally wouldn't have been possible for me, and I am incredibly thankful for her friendship and hospitality!

Sigríður and I outside the Blue Lagoon. Love this babe!

Oslo, In Rain and Sun

It's been another very busy week. I left for Oslo last Thursday immediately after class, and got back late Sunday evening. Traveling really does make the time fly! As much as I love seeing new places, I'm also happy with the number of trips that I scheduled because I think I managed to find a good balance between travel weekends and weekends in Berlin. My trip to Iceland this weekend is, as of right now, my last trip until after all my finals and papers.

So, as I said, I left for Oslo last Thursday with 6 other people from my program (and then Maria and Leah joined us on Friday). We traveled together but since six is just too many people to coordinate we ended up splitting into smaller groups, which worked out really well. It was an amazing trip. For the most part it was also a very wet trip, and gray, but I still would have called it a success even if the sun hadn't come out in all its bright shining glory on Sunday.

Looking down the main street, Karl Johans Gate, to the palace on Sunday

After arriving in Oslo, taking the bus from the airport to the city ,and checking into our hostel, Emma, Chris and Michael went to go meet up with a Norwegian friend they'd met at the language course they'd taken before coming to Berlin. Hilary and I picked up some snacks from the grocery store and then started following a guide we'd found online for a walking tour of the city. For most of our tour the rain was very very faint, but after we finished the tour it started coming down harder. We saw a free mason lodge, an executioner's house, a memorial park remembering what the Norwegians suffered as a result of the German occupation in WWII, a fortress/castle that was built around 1300, and an Irish pub with the Notre Dame leprechaun emblazoned on their window and sign! Felt like home.We came back to the hostel around 11 because we were ready to get out of the rain. Also almost every bar we saw and pretty much all the clubs in Oslo are not only expensive but are 24+, even though the drinking age is lower than that. Thankfully we didn't come to Oslo to party so it didn't really affect us at all.

Akerhus Festning

On Friday Emma, Hilary and I went to the Cultural History Museum at the University of Oslo. I thought it was a really cool introduction to Norwegian history, even though we did the museum backwards, which we seem to do at almost every museum. We learned about Norwegian currency through the years, the Vikings, Norway after the spread of Christianity, and we saw displays about Eskimos and other cold climate cultures. At 2 we met Anne, the Norwegian friend from Emma, Chris and Michael's language course, and she took the three of them as well as Hilary and myself on a tour of the City Hall, where they give out the Nobel Peace Prize (the other Nobel Prizes are given out in Sweden).

Imagine a stage in the middle of this room. That's where the Peace Prize is given!

After learning about the meanings behind all the murals we took a ferry out to Bygdøy peninsula to see the Vikingskipshuset (Viking Ship Museum) and the Fram museum. The Viking Ship Museum displays three ships that are over a thousand years old (the Viking Age was from about the 8th century to the mid 11th century). These three ships were used as burial ships, which means after someone (of importance, such as the owner) died they were placed on the ship, a burial hut was built on the ship, and the ship was buried with the body, valuables, and items deemed necessary for the final voyage. Two ships were found in clay, which is why they are so well preserved. The third is not as complete but still pretty darn cool. They also found a few pieces of the skeletons and those are displayed in a separate part of the museum. It was interesting to see the size of the people buried there, because they really were a lot smaller than people today. Scientists can tell that one man had some sort of disorder that made him a "giant," but he really doesn't look any taller than the average person today. I think this was my favorite museum of the whole trip.

The Fram museum was also fascinating. The Fram is a ship that went on three polar expeditions and holds the record of sailing farther north and south than any other wooden ship. It was used between 1893 and1912. Its first expedition was an attempt to reach the North Pole, but they learned ships can't make it to the pole. The second expedition was an exploration of northern Canada, and the ship was stuck in ice for three and a half years. The third voyage was supposed to be another trip to the north pole, but the captain of the time (Roald Amundson) heard the north pole had just been reached by Robert Peary so he decided to go for the south pole, since he thought he'd no longer be able to raise funds for a trip north. You can go inside the ship, which I thought was the coolest part of the whole museum. I love walking around ships and seeing how they're set up because not an inch of space is wasted.

In charge of the Fram

After we came back Hilary and I, after briefly researching a day trip for Saturday to get out of the rain before deciding to stick it out in the city, decided to go out to eat. Sure, food in Oslo is expensive, but we had a Thai place we wanted to try because we'd heard it was a good deal, and we were in desperate need of a big, warm meal. And that is exactly what we got. Emma joined as and we had one of the best and biggest meals out that I've ever had. Part of it was probably that we were starving, but it was a great evening. Then we decided to see a movie, because we wanted something to do that was dry and museums were all closed. We found a movie in English (with Norwegian subtitles) just down the street and it was exactly what we wanted. We were the only English speakers in the theater and we could not stop laughing. Plus Hilary won a t-shirt!

Thrilled that during the movie, the rain paused long enough for the sidewalk to begin to dry

On Saturday we welcomed Maria and Leah to Oslo (they'd gotten in late the night before) by taking them to the grocery store and checking out the Domkirke, or cathedral. Hilary and I went off to visit the inside of the Akershus Fortress, which was very interesting. The castle had such a different feel that the other castles I've seen. It was exquisite at times, sure, but I'd also describe it as thicky, hearty, earthy and solid. There's a stained glass window in the castle that was made by Emanuel Vigeland, brother of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (read on for more about Gustav!).

Then we went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park! We met Hilary, Leah and Emma there so that we could all take some fun pictures with the sculptures together. The park was designed by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) and is full of his work. There are 212 pieces in the park, the most famous of which is the Monolith in the middle of the park. It was, of course, still raining, but I was thrilled to finally see the park. My dad isn't sure of the connection, but he thinks we are probably related to Gustav Vigeland because our name was Vigeland until someone dropped the e coming into the States, and because he is from Mandal, a tiny town in southern Norway. His parents were born in Mandal around the same time as my great-great-great grandfather was born in Mandal. We all visited the Oslo History Museum, which is free, very informative and located in the park. Afterwards Hilary and I tried to go in the Vigeland Museum, which was supposed to be open, but they had closed early that day without giving any explanation.

Hey look!

Hilary, Emma, Leah and Maria at the front of the park

Saturday night was a fairly relaxed night. Emma, Hilary and I found a nearby Catholic church with a Saturday evening service, so I experienced my first Polish Mass! (The Catholic communities in Oslo are mostly Polish or Vietnamese immigrants, so since Hilary speaks a little Polish we thought that would be fun). Afterwards all the girls and I cooked up a ton of pasta for another huge, warm meal, and we made friends with one of the new girls in our hostel room, who was from Germany, which gave us a reason to speak German!

Once I woke up on Sunday I couldn't wait to get out the door. Why? Because the sun had finally decided to show her face, and the sky was blue and clear. It was such a gorgeous site. Hilary, Emma and I were so thrilled the weather had changed that we completely changed our Sunday schedule so that we could revisit the sculpture park in the nice weather. It was very different--so many more people out and about, and a much prettier backdrop to the Monolith.

Now it feels like summer in the sculpture park

Such a beautiful sky!

We also visited the National Galerie, where we saw, among other cool paintings, "The Scream" by Edward Munch. We decided our favorite of Munch's paintings wasn't "The Scream" but the one next to it entitled "The Day After." Next Hilary and I made a stop at the Norwegian Resistance Museum, in the Akershus Fortress, to read about Norway during WWII. I wish we had more time there because there was so much to read, but we were watching the clock so that we had time to spend on the roof of the Opera House.

Hilary, her backpack, and the Opera House

The Opera House was finished in 2007, and I think it's a miracle building because not only was it completed ahead of schedule but it was also under budget. A picture is the best way to describe it. You can just walk right on up to the roof! I was so glad we'd held off on the Opera House because basking in the sun with an almost aerial view of Oslo was the best way to enjoy the Opera House.

Looking out from the roof of the Opera House

And that's it! After an hour at the Opera House we caught our bus back to the airport and flew to Berlin. As great as the trip was, traveling is tiring and when we landed I was very happy to be "home."

Sailboats in the harbor

Just a little reflection before I say goodbye (verabschiede mich): I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to visit Oslo, even though it isn't one of the typical must-see European cities. This was the first time I've visited a country where I felt I had a connection by blood to the culture. I consider myself a true American in that I'm a true mutt: Irish, German, English, Norwegian and Danish. I could show you the pie charts my dad helped us make once but I'm sure you can do without the visual aid. Despite the fact that I'm twice as German as I am Norwegian (25% vs. 12.5%), I don't really feel an ancestral connection to German. Yet I did feel something in Oslo. Maybe it's just because I happen to love the water and the woods, and Norway has lots of both of those. Maybe it was the hype of hearing about this sculpture park and the thrill of seeing my [almost] last name everywhere. But as I learned more about the Norwegian culture I couldn't help but notice that it didn't feel so foreign.

Drei Madels

This past weekend's trip to Innsbruck, Austria provided me with some of the best hiking I have ever experienced. Thanks to my parents' enthusiasm for the outdoors, our vacations camping across the country, and summers spend outdoors with my siblings, I have a strong love for being outside. Warning, this post will be a long one, but mostly because there are so many beautiful pictures I want to share!

On Friday Hilary and I met up with Leah in the Munich Hauptbahnhof; she'd taken a night train from Berlin so we all hopped aboard an early train out and were in Innsbruck by 9:30am. Instead of taking a bus we walked to our hostel, a pretty house with a garden and courtyard that had been turned into a hostel, to help us start to get a feel of the city.

The view out our window. Behind the clouds on the right are MOUNTAINS!

After we checked in we didn't waste any time. For Friday we had decided to take the mountain train and then the gondola all the way to the top, and then hike the Goetheweg (Weg means trail). The stretch of the Alps we were in this weekend is called the Nordkette. The top of the gondola is the Hafelekarspitze at 2444m, which gave us an amazing view of the city and surrounding mountains. But really, I could say that about every moment of our hike that day.

Hi, Innsbruck!

The Goetheweg took us along the ridge of a few peaks. My favorite peak was the Mühlkarspitze, 2243 m, where we found a patch of snow and a drop that made me feel as though I could fall off the mountain.We encountered a surprising (to me) number of goats along the way. For the most part they ignored us, but they were an adorable addition to the landscape.

You know it's a real mountain when you're hiking with the mountain goats.

On the edge of the Mühlkarspitze

We hiked through patches of snow along the mountainside, and if there had been fewer clouds we could have seen the Zugspitze, the tallest peak in Germany (yep, we could see all the way to Germany!). We took lunch at our turn-around point in a bowl, watching the clock so that we didn't miss the last Bahn down. On the way back we tried out a new trail that took us one gondola station lower and allowed us to increase our time on the mountain.

Ski lifts look so out of place in the summer.

After returning to our room we showered and headed into the city for dinner. We came across a track meet in the middle of the streets of Innsbruck, which was interesting. Then we enjoyed a delicious Austrian dinner at the Stiftskeller in the Innenstadt, before heading home (through a surprise rain shower, which thankfully was the only rain of the weekend) and going to bed at a ridiculously early hour. Hey, we were exhausted!

On Saturday we woke up early to stop by the tourist information center before beginning our hike. We were following the suggestion of my friend Phil, who studied in Innsbruck last spring, so we started at a trail head by the Planötzenhof Gasthaus with Höttinger Alm, a mountain hut, as our Ziel (goal). It was a very tough climb. A serious chunk of the trail up was a steep vertical, with the sun bright and beating on our backs. My quads were burning but every time I stopped to look around I knew it was worth it.

Just part of the way up. Pictures can't show it, but it was a lot steeper

We all made it to the Alm, where we paused for a minute before deciding to continue a little further before stopping for lunch. We hiked to the Bodensteineralm, another hut about 45 minutes away. It was an easier trail, though the very last minute was a little bit of a steeper vertical than I wanted. Hilary kept me going though. After another brief rest we were heading back to Höttinger Alm.

Looking back at the Alm. You can see the trail!

For lunch we thought we would do the German/Austrian thing, and have some beer with our food. After receiving our half liters (I ordered a Weisse which was very good) we actually looked around and realize that most of the hikers were sipping Drittels (third of a liter) and often Radlers (part beer, part lemonade or Sprite). Apparently half liters are not as common, but it appeared that being a group of young females on the mountain was also uncommon, so we just embraced it. My beer was accompanied by a delicious and reasonably priced skillet of bacon and eggs. Hey, you gotta refuel!

The Alm

Delicious.

Our hike down was a little unconventional, in that we sort of missed a sign or two and kind of made up our own trail at the end. Everything had been excellently marked until about halfway down. We didn't take the same path as we did on the way up, because we had a different end destination and we didn't want something that steep. I was a little discouraged by the lack of signs at the end, but it all worked out and since we were in the Alps it was hard to be too upset. We were just thoroughly exhausted and my legs were about ready to give out. The usual for a day of hard hiking!

Saturday night was a lot like Friday, minus the track meet and the rain: shower, dinner in the city, and a wonderfully early bedtime. Our Sunday train to Salzburg was another early one, 8:09am. I'm sure you're wondering how early our bedtime was. I'll just say that despite getting up before 7, we managed to fit in over nine hours of sleep that night.

The church by our hostel. If you look closely you can see a few white specks in the triangle of open grass to the right and a little below the clock on the church. That's where we hiked to!

We had scheduled our trains so that we had about three hours in Salzburg, Austria on Sunday. It was a fun break in the train riding. We didn't get to spend a lot of time in any one place, but we saw one of the fountains featured in "Sound of Music" (Salzburg is where part of "Sound of Music" was filmed), we saw a marching band in traditional Austrian dress, we walked by Mozart's Wohnhaus and Geburtshaus (where he lived and where he was born), saw the cathedral where he was baptized, and walked up to the Festung Salzburg. It's a huge castle on the cliff overlooking Salzburg, very impressive.

The castle on the hill is the Festung Hohensalzburg

The marching band, seated now, in traditional Austrian dress

Overall my experience in Austria was an extremely pleasant one. Again, the atmosphere is very different than that of Berlin. The people really did seem to be more openly friendly. Almost every hiker and biker we met on the path greeted us with a "Grüß Gott" which means God bless you but is used just like Hello. And interestingly enough, we didn't seem get attention because we looked American, we got attention because we were drei Madels--three girls--hiking alone. Our server at the Höttinger Alm knew we weren't Austrian but didn't think we were American until we told him. I view that as a success. As far as understanding the southern dialect, we had a little trouble understanding some words here and there, because we spoke with a few people with very thick Austrian accents, but for the most part we were able to get our thoughts across.

On a bridge over the Inn River in Innsbruck

I'd like to end with something I wrote Friday night, after our first hike, before I went to sleep. It's from my personal journal, and I just thought this excerpt might help explain why this trip had such an impact on me.

I just have this wonderful feeling in my chest, still. It's the swelling of my heart, and I feel it whenever I'm up high, especially high in the mountains, and overlooking something beautiful. I kind of got it in the dome of the Reichstag, overlooking a foreign city that was starting to feel like home. But it's strongest when I'm out, in nature, away from the world. I feel it often at the top of a ski run, overlooking the snow-covered pines and a ski town way below, and this feeling coupled with the excitement and anticipated adrenaline of the run before me is intoxicating, and it's what makes skiing so addicting. There's a bit of longing in this feeling, a longing to be as close to the mountain and scenery as possible. I love looking out and just breathing in, deep breaths, because I feel like I'm breathing in the pure, wild beauty of the mountains. It's invigorating, and makes my whole body feel cleaner, stronger, and ready to tackle the next challenge, overcome gravity's pull towards a lower elevation and oxygen-rich air, and to scramble on my hands and knees if I must to the tippy-top of the tallest peak I can see.

From Munich, With Glee

What a successful weekend! I just got back yesterday from my trip to München (Munich) and Innsbruck, Austria (or I guess if I'm being picky and using München I should also say Österreich). It was an amazing trip, and because I have a lot of pictures from Innsbruck to share I'm going to stretch this trip across two posts. The hiking bit shows up tomorrow.

Because last Thursday was a holiday (Feast of the Ascension, or Christi Himmelfahrt) I could leave on a Wednesday afternoon and still not miss any class. Hilary and I booked it to the Südkreuz train station after our class and caught an express train that got us to Munich by 8:45pm. We checked into our hostel and then went to find our friends in the Glee Club. They were staying in a hotel very close to us. The Notre Dame Glee Club is currently on a European tour, and Munich is their only German stop so Hilary and I planned our visit accordingly. Surprisingly and thankfully we had no trouble meeting up with people on Wednesday. We walked to their hotel and were greeted by Glee Clubbers in the street outside, and we found more inside. So fun to see domers again! We gathered up a few of them, as well as our ND friend Susie who's studying in Munich this semester, and headed out to one of Munich's famous Bierhallen, the Augustiner Bierhallen, to enjoy a Maß together.

Joe and I. You need muscles to hold up that drink.

On Thursday Hilary took me, Joe (my good friend who was studying in Mexico City this past semester), and a few new Glee Club friends around Munich. The weather wasn't ideal but we didn't let it stop us. We listened to the bells of the Glockenspiel play on Marienplatz and we walked through the Englisher Garten. The holiday had its ups and downs: all of the churches were open, but the open market (the Viktoulian Markt) where Hilary wanted to take us for Wurst was closed, as well as the university where Sophie Scholl and her brother were arrested for their resistance work against the Nazis.

The Neues Rathaus in Marienplatz

A close up of the puppets who dance when the bells play

We ate lunch in a Biergarten, and later we hiked up many narrow, wooden staircases to the top of the Peterskirche, for an astounding look out across the city. Munich wasn't as destroyed during WWII as many other German cities, but it wasn't left untouched either. For example, part of the Peterskirche was bombed out, but the tower remained standing. Munich is a very old city, and has churches built in almost every style of architecture. If you're interested in architecture it is fascinating to read about the presence of almost every epoch in different buildings around the city, but I'm afraid I don't have the background or the time to go through everything here.

The famous Frauenkirche, dating back to the 1200s, on the left (one tower covered in scaffolding), and the Neues Rathaus on the right.

Hilary and I decided we needed a quick nap, and we left Joe to wander around the city with our new friend, Father Driscoll, the priest who's been traveling with the Glee Club (I love Notre Dame). We picked up Joe about an hour and a half later and joined some other new friends at the Hofbräuhaus Bierhalle. The Bierhalle was lively and busy, a great atmosphere--until we sat down. We had terrible service, "wirklich unglaublich," but it gave Hilary the chance to go off an a manager in German, which was pretty fun, and after the manager yelled at our server for neglecting us and one other table things picked up a little. We tried not to let it sour our evening, but I wouldn't really recommend the Hofbräuhaus to anyone. Munich is a city full of friendly people and pleasant Bierhallen (Gemütlichkeit is the great German word for it) and even though we didn't experience much at dinner I know the city is full of it.

Most important part of the story: we still had fun!

But I don't want to end on a sour note! Overall, the Munich part of the trip was very fun. I loved seeing a Bavarian city, because the atmosphere really is very different from that of Berlin. I would love to go back and visit Munich again. And I really enjoyed catching up such a good friend in a foreign city. BFFs together again! I'm sorry, Kaitlyn, there were no matching outfits, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.