Okay, so, when I was traveling in Germany from place to place, sometimes it was difficult to a) find the time, and b) find affordable internet service in order to continue posting on this blog! So, needless to say, there are some events/situations that are worth mentioning about our fabulous study tour with the Transatlantic Outreach Program. I have narrowed this list down to 10 of my favorite things that I left out! Here they are in no particular order:
1. Potsdam: bike tour
Who would have thought that I could go on a bike tour in Potsdam, Germany, which would include visiting the residence that hosted Potsdam conference of 1945, seeing palaces & eating ice cream, and even a little “swimming”? This day was truly one of the most memorable and unexpected, to say the least. Some events on this tour were more unexpected than others! I digress. Potsdam is famous for the post-WWII talks between U.S. President Harry Truman, the USSR’s Joseph Stalin, and Great Britain’s Clement Attlee. At this conference, tension increased between the United States and the USSR. It also served as a possible forewarning to the Cold War era.
Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam
2. Goethe House
Goethe House
Our tour of the birthplace and home of Goethe was overshadowed by the other events of our first day in Germany (attending a high Catholic mass at the biggest church in Frankfurt, eating my first *real* frankfurter, and watching Germany beat England in the World Cup and the celebrating that followed). Not to mention, I felt this mixture of “I’m so excited we’re here, let’s push through and fully experience every minute….to, hmmm, I think I need to lie down here for *just a minute* and take a power nap.:) The Goethe House was not forgotten, though…no, no it wasn’t! As you can see from the photo, the Goethe House has 5 levels, 4 of which we toured every room. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German writer and is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in Western culture. Goethe’s literary works include numerous poems and novels, but he is most famous for Faust. Here are some more photos from this famous author’s home.
