Sunday, September 25, 2016

1st Excursion - Saarschleife, Trier, Weinprobe an der Mosel

10.9.16
I spent most of Saturday writing the other blog posts.

The student dormitory where I live has a small bar open on the weekends, staffed by one of the students. It's a homely feel. I came mostly because I needed to buy some washing machine tokens, but hey, why not enjoy a drink while I'm at it.


I had a pretty good grapefruit soda radler in the US at a German pub and wanted to try it here. Unfortunately, this wasn't like the previous radler I had tried.
50% beer, 50% lemonade. It's too much for me. I can do soda and beer, but not lemonade and beer.
I went exploring under the dorm for the washing machines. 3 buildings share 3 washing machines and 1 dryer. Washing machines and dryer cost 1 euro each to operate for ~1 hour. Either the dryer sucks or I don't know the right program to use.

"Keep Brandschutztuer closed! No blocking!" Of course, I couldn't read that at the time, so I was like "ayy lmao" and just walked through.
The downstairs is pretty spooky. Sounds echo, it's dark, a bit damp, and no one is around. There's a tishtennis table here...but I'd hate to trip on those steps.



Cigarette and condom vending machines.

I did eventually find the washing machines. Since there are a lot of people using them, you need to sign up for a time slot in order to use it.

11.9.16
Excursion today! Whoo! My first big trip in Germany, besides being in Germany.

We took 2 buses. The places we are going to are 1-2 hours away.
The buses are pretty nice. The seats could be more comfortable. You can recline a little in them, but it's surprisingly not as comfortable as you might imagine.
The bus has a bathroom! It's so small I didn't even notice it until the bus driver said we had one. Luckily I didn't have to use it.
Schedule
These pictures don't do any justice for the places they describe.
The first place is Saarschleife. It's a place with an incredible view of a river's u-bend around a peninsula.

There is a big tall structure you can access for a higher vantage point, but it costs 10 euros :/
It's like a huge treehouse.

I'd like to take a picture from there, though.

The view is fantastisch.

Me

Nodo
Erina, Mie, Ayuka
I like Ania and Greg's expressions here, but Ashley is blinking.
These guys biked from Luxembourg to enjoy the view. Wow!


Now we're in Trier. It's a beautiful city with a lot of history. I'll try to recall what I heard from the guide.

The buildings have so much personality!
Porta Nigra, entrance side
Inside, past the gate.
It used to surround the city. Now, only this part remains.
View of the main street after entering.
The plants (pflanze) on the windowsill (die fensterbank) are a really nice touch.
Cute pasta
OH MAN I WISH I HAD TIME TO GO HERE

Nodo, Farkhod
Cute shuttle.

Greg and Ania are a bunch of jokers.
A nice fountain that looks like small streams. Can I really call it a fountain?
This is a fountain.
"Look how high that thing is. How am I supposed to put money in?"
I'd love to eat here...but the kitchen isn't open, yet. Ich habe hungerrrr
It was early so there were no customers around. Greg invited the young bartender to come join us, so he did. He gave us a tasting because we didn't know what die biere tasted like. The guy's name was like.. Ja-something. 19 years from France. He and Greg swapped cigs.
The special was good.
I'm getting used to drinking when doing something social. Every meeting, every meal is a celebration!
We started on the tour. You can just read about it here if you're interested.
The holes were made from the residents of the city ransacking the wall's metal supports.
This part used to be filled in when it was used as part of the church.
Look at that door! In the old days you'd have to use a ladder to get up there!
The house where Karl Marx was raised. It's now an Euro shop (dollar store).
Trier is beautiful!

Back then, there were no addresses. Places just had names, like "The house of Magi".















Hiroko

Hiroko. Her white dress looked really fitting for church.

















I love stairs. I don't know why.
What an incredible organ!
This looks like another organ. It's so big!

A lot of people have well-behaved doges. Many don't leash their dog.
You are not supposed to pet strangers' dogs.
This is a really majestic facade. Facade, because the trees are hiding its incompletion.
The person building this didn't have enough money to finish, so it just ends abruptly.
They planted trees to hide the view of the rest of the building from the front.
Cage soccer. First time I've seen it.
Greg and Ania ran late to our bus because they went back to the brewery to eat. Granted it looks delicious, and I wish I ate, because I was super hungry, but the tour was worth it. 
We're on our way to a wine tasting in Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. Vineyards cover the hills, making for a very scenic drive.
The buildings are older and even more beautiful here. We drove past many charming houses.
When you taste wine, you go from bitter to sweet. I'm no expert, but I would have preferred something to cleanse my palate before moving on to the next wine.
Brot, fleisch, und käse. The cheese was actually really good. Bread was eh, but I was hungry after not eating eating. I had my fill. They even gave seconds! Wine is something I drink with food, so I was thankful for this.
The owner poured every glass of wine himself, making it a very personal experience. He poured me my last glass without me finishing the previous one, but ayy lmao.
You could buy wine after the tasting. A good amount of people did. It was a really nice experience. Personally, this wine was not to my taste, though.
This is a casino, but it looks really nice.
Mie with her wine.
Driving back.
Saarschleife had an amazing view, Trier was charming, and the wine tasting was a lot of fun. Viele spaß. I hope the other excursions will be as fun!

I've been incredibly busy trying to find a place to live and dealing with student enrollment, so this post is 2 weeks late. I'm catching up as fast as I can in the downtime.

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