Liberté, égalité, fraternité

Monday December 21st

After the tragic shooting in Paris on Friday the 13th of November, one of the exchange students in Heidelberg planned a vigil on Monday the 16th in Theaterplatz. Expecting a few hundred people, more than a thousand came to support, according to the local newspaper.

I rarely walk by Theaterplatz, but five weeks later, for some reason, I was passing by and I noticed that the candles remained.

Not the rain, snow, nor wind removed the memorial. But to my surprise no one from the city removed them. Although the people of Europe have many differences and long complex histories of love and hate. This speaks greatly towards the solidarity between them in times of tragedy.

Straßburg

Saturday December 12th

ESN had rented a bus to take us to Strasbourg (Straßburg in German) on Saturday. Strasbourg is 137 km (85 miles) from Heidelberg and lies in Alsace, a province that has been annexed by many different empires in hundreds of years. The Prussians took Alsace and Strasbourg in 1871 after winning the Franco-Prussian war, but come the Treaty of Versailles, Germany ceded the region back to France. For that reason (as well as being right on the border with Germany), as a tourist, one can somewhat get away with only speaking German.

Strasbourg is well known for its Cathedral, which surpassed the Pyramid of Giza in height and was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874. Also the reason why it is nearly impossible to get a picture of the whole cathedral from up close.

Strasbourg is also the official seat of the European parliament and the region of Alsace is well known for its wine. However the tourists in December come for one reason, Strasbourg's 445 year old Christmas market, at the center of which is its enormous Christmas tree, topping out this year at 30 meters (98 feet).

There are many reasons to love Strasbourg, however none of these were mine. Having finished our espressos at a Cafe by the Cathedral, we saw that there were people waiting to sit so we offered them our seats and left to meet up with the others.

About half an hour later, I received a Facebook message, written in French, from a lady unknown. Without understanding a word, I intuitively and immediately touched my back pocket and did not feel my wallet. I asked out tour guide if the message meant what i thought it did. After she confirmed, I ran back to the Cafe and a seated man said "Matthew?" to me in a French accent while holding my wallet. As it turned out, the people we gave our seats to saw the wallet and, from my driver's license inside, searched me on Facebook.

People (me included) would expect that if a tourist lost something it will surely be gone forever. Instead they went above and beyond to return my wallet to me. No better time to be reminded of the good nature of people than Christmas time.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Thursday November 26th
December in the US is known for houses enveloped by lights, decorated malls, and Santa Claus everywhere. December in Germany is all about the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market. Beginning Monday the 23rd of November and lasting until December 22nd every square in altstadt becomes a market.

Bismarckplatz

Universitätsplatz

Marktplatz and its Carousel

Karlsplatz with its ice skating rink (seen here from the castle)

And of course the castle has its own Christmas market as well, unfortunately I had forgotten to take

pictures of it (being preoccupied with the view of the town below).

Inside the shops one can find a variety of baked sweets, candy, wood carvings, clothing, jewelry, and trinkets. The markets feature your typical bratwurst and currywurst but also fire roasted salmon and steak. But the Weihnachtsmarkt is most famous for its Glühwein. And although it translates to "glowing wine" in English it doesn't glow, but is mulled and hot. Perfect for heating you up in the cold. It comes in red wine, white wine, cherry wine, and other variations as well. My favorite though was the Feuerzangenbowle, a drink made by setting a rum soaked sugarloaf on fire and letting it drip into mulled wine.

Philosophenweg

Thursday November 5th
Philossophenweg, German for Philosopher's road, is the path carved into the Heiligenberg where the philosophers, professors, and students of the university would walk and discuss whatever was on their mind.

Easy to get to from Bismarckplatz and having already been here for two months, it was past due that I took this road, and the weather yesterday was perfect so we went. From here, one can look down onto the Neckar and the Altstadt. It does not take long to figure out why it was named philosopher's road. This road is great place to walk (or jog) and think.

Once you walk passed the old town you take more notice of the mountainous geography, especially in the fall when the leaves turn color.

Luxembourg

Sunday October 11th

AEGEE (also an international student organization) planned a group trip to Luxembourg, which is the capital city of the country with the same name. Luxembourg is a small land locked country sharing its borders with France, Belgium, and Germany. Being surrounded by such large and well known countries, it is easy to tour Europe and leave it unnoticed. However, if able to visit, one should definitely take the opportunity. One would also expect that in a tiny country it would be difficult to communicate with the locals, but it is quite the opposite. French is the official language but most people speak German or English as well. In fact, the city is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and home to the European Court of Justice. Because the city also has one of the highest ranking per capita income in the world, it happens to be a huge finance and banking hub.

Unfortunately for us, we went on a Sunday, when most of these places were closed. However, the weather was sunny and there was fireman's parade so the streets were busy.

Here the firefighters were performing a street comedy show in their mini fire truck.

Technically a Grand Duchy and not a kingdom, this is the home of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri, and his family.

Not complete without a royal guard of course (bottom left)

The highlight of the day trip was the old town. Enclosed in a fortifying wall with the Alzette river running through, it truly is a breathtaking view, which I do not believe this picture does justice to.

Dachau

Saturday October 3rd

After breakfast, we checked out of the hostel in Dachau and headed to the concentration camp. Immediately upon passing through this entrance the mood changed.

 "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" or "work makes one free" is inscribed on the gate.

Opened in 1933 by Heinrich Himmler, Dachau concentration camp was the first of its kind in Germany. Originally meant to serve as a work camp for political prisoners it expanded to hold all enemies of the Nazi state. Dachau became an SS training camp and was the model used to establish other concentration camps. In the 12 years of its operation, more than 30,000 prisoners were killed.

Seeing the various parts of the camp and getting a glimpse of how the prisoners were treated and forced to live, one cannot help but feel heartbroken and ashamed.

Oktoberfest

Friday October 2nd
"There is no way I'll be spending a year in Germany and not go to Oktoberfest" was my answer to a question frequently asked of me before I left the United States. Luckily, ESN Heidelberg had reserved 50 seats for Friday October 2nd. We left Heidelberg at 6am and stopped by our hostel in Dachau to drop our stuff off. We got to Theresienwiese (the Oktoberfest grounds) at 11:30. The table was reserved for us from 12pm until 4pm.

Only beer brewed in München is allowed to be served at Oktoberfest. The beer comes in one size, Maß (pronounce mass), equivalent to one Liter.

In my mind I had imagined the festival to be chaotic. Even with more than six million visitors per year, it is quite tame. This is because the festival is strict on the purchase of beer. Beer can only be bought inside the ornate tents (which are not actually tents but warehouse like buildings) and is not allowed to be taken outside.

Even inside the tents, if you are not seated you are not allowed to buy a beer. On top of that, getting a seat without a reservation made months in advance is practically impossible. Weißwurst (a Bavarian dish of white sausage) with a few Maß of Paulaner Beer and the singing of German festival songs was the norm and before we knew it, our four hours were up.

The rest of the grounds were like any other festival, amusement rides and kiosks selling a range of goods from trinkets to sweets.  

Tips:    Make a reservation months in advance otherwise you won't get a seat.

            Get to the train station early, because at 11:30pm it felt more crowded than the festival, and             you might miss the last train, which would be inconvenient if you are not staying within

            walking distance of the festival grounds.