Canada Does Heidelberg

The name of the weekend suited it perfectly as there were lots of
Canadians. The weekend started with a two hour drive to Colin?s house.
He lives just outside Heidelberg and had invited 8 Canadians for the
weekend. I was the only one of the 9 of us here from UNB for the
summer to not go to the meeting that was on Friday so I met them
there. Another UNB student, Jessica, who is traveling Europe for the
summer stopped to join us for the weekend. Once every one had arrived
and a bit of catch up was done we debated what to do for the evening.
Once we found out the last tram ran at 11:30 and it was almost this
time we decided to stay at Colin?s to relax and catch up on everyones
lives. This is exactly what we needed as everyone was tired.

On Saturday morning once everyone was up and most of us showered and
dressed we headed to the bakery to get some breakfast. One thing that
Germany has mastered is their bakeries and baked goods! It is almost a
bad thing because just walking or biking by is tempting. We all found
something deliceious for breakfast and brought some for the other who
were still showering. After breakfast we planned out the day which
started with the girls going to the grocery store for food and the
boys to a different grocery store for a flat of beer. We headed to the
grocery store to get food for a bbq lunch and we had decided to make
homemade vegtable soup for dinner. I know people in the store hated us
because 8 English speaking girls semi took over the little grocery
store for a bit. However, we did manage to fill a cart with enough
food to feed 11 people for a day or more. One thing we forgot was to
bring shopping bags or backpacks for the food since you have to buy
bags. We decided we would pull the dumb Canadian/tourist card and use
the cart to go to Colin?s house before we brought it back. Along the
way we stopped at two different bakeries for bread, rolls and coffee.
We managed to wheel the cart back to Colin?s unload it and have Erin
and Jenn take it back without anyone saying anything.

Once we had seperated the lunch and dinner food and put the dinner
food away we packed up and caught the tram into the city. We got off
by the Neckar where we were planning on having lunch. Colin and Erin
left us here to find a spot while they went to pick up the bbq from
one of the people Colin works with. The park along the Neckar river
was a busy spot for many reasons but there was also a dragon boat
festival happening on Saturday as well. We found one spot and set up
but when Colin arrived back we learned there were special spots to bbq
so we had to move and set up once again. We spent most of the
afternoon here having lunch, playing frisbee, talking and watching the
boat races. Some of the teams had some interesting costumes on there
was a whole boat that was filled with cavemen and cavewomen for
example. After we cleaned up, returned the bbq and packed pur things
we headed up the nearby hill to walk through the Philosopher?s Way
which is a pathway that over looks the city. Here we stopped for a few
pictures and took some pictures for other people as well. Unfotunatly
being the clumsy person I am dropped my camera here. Thankfully it
still works as I am not done with my adventures yet but it does need a
bit of repair. We walked back down the hill and across the old
Heidelberg brige to the old town to walk around before we grabbed a
tram to head home. For dinner we made a delicious vegtabele soup to go
along with the fresh bread and some saussages. Once everyone was full
and most of the dinner mess cleaned up we all changed and headed back
downtown for the night. This weekend we had better luck with getting
home and made it home all together safe and sound with no issues.

Sunday morning was a bit more relaxed as people were leaving at
different times. So we had breakfast and said goodbyes to those who
were leaving in the morning. Once they were gone the rest of us headed
back downtown to go and visit the Heidleberg castle. Along the walk
from the tram to the castle we stumbled on a place selling snowballs.
Still not fully sure what they were but they were a delicious
concoction of chocolate, filling, cookie like pastery and toppings all
rolled into a ball. Jenn and Jordan walked with us to the base of the
castle path but they left us there to catch their train home. I wasn?t
leaving until later so I got to continue up to the castle and spent a
better part of the afternoon here. The castle was partially in ruins
but there were also places you could go inside. We went through the
German pharmacy museum and into the wine cellar where the world
largest wine cask is now housed. Heidelberg was really filled with
Canadians this weekend as we learned at the castle there were 200
Canadian Scouts in the city for the weekend as well. With our fill of
the castle taken in we climbed back down to the city and made our way
back to Colin?s before heading home after a great weekend.

I am not sure what happened to the beautiful weather we were having
here in Germany but it seems to have disappeared. Most of last week it
was cold and rainy and this week hasn?t started out any different.
When the sun is out it is during the day and then it rains for the
evening. I had two or three days last week where it started to rain on
my way home from work. I reslly hope that the weather turns around as
the plan is to go camping this coming weekend and I only have a few
weekends left to enjoy this amazing summer!

Work has been rather boring lately so there is nothing notable to
mention from there. I have things to do here and there but I run into
times where they tell me there is really nothing I can do at that
point. Apparently I work to fast but there is no complaints about my
work so it is okay. As I am only here for a bit longer there is not
much point in learning another type of test because it would take a
lot of time so for now I take whatecer comes my way. So with that,
that is all for now. Chow : )

This past weekend I made a trip to Paris with five of the other UNB
students who are here for the summer as well. Emily Colin and I flew
out on Thursday evening this means I had a short work day on Thursday
too. I went to work at 7 am and left at 1 to catch my train for 2. I
took the train from here to the airport to wait for the others to
arrive.

We landed in Paris at 7:30 then after determining what metro lines we
needed took the train to our hotel by the Gare Du Nord station. We had
no problems until we got to the station as we couldn?t find a way out!
There was security everywhere as well as the exit that we wanted to go
out was all taped off. No one was saying why and just kept telling
people to go the other way. We did find a way out but we never found
out what happened or was happening at the station. After checking into
our hotel we decided to grab some dinner. There was one problem
everything seemed to be closing even though it was only about 9pm. So
we decided Subway was a safe bet. Not exactly what I was planning for
French food but it worked. After dinner Colin had suggested we go to
the Sacre de Coeur which was close by. When we got closer to this we
saw a huge crowd covering the hill as well as the stairs. This
confirmed our thoughts that Thursday was the holiday and not Monday.
Turns out it was the French Independence day and there was going to be
fireworks. So we found a spot to sit on the stairs and were able to
see three firework shows off in the distance across the city. We
couldn?t see the Eiffel tower because of trees but apparently there
was a huge show there. After we had our fill of fireworks we headed
back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning after checking out of the hotel and grabbing some
breakfast we headed to the Gare de l?Est station to meet Jenn Erin and
Jordan. Once we had found them and determined which was the best metro
route to our hotel for the next two nights we headed there. We were
not there long just enough time to drop out things and use the
washroom etc. We wanted to go on a walking tour at 1 so we took the
metro to the meeting spot and checked in before grabbing some snacks
at a French bakery for lunch. The tour that we went on was called New
Paris and was a 3 ½ hour free walking tour of part of the city. It was
a great tour and we had an awesome guide. Sam was originally from the
states but has obviously been in Paris for a while as he knew all the
trick and unknown things about Paris that he added to our tour. We saw
all kinds of things on the tour including the Latin district, Notre
Dame, the Louvre and many others. The one thing that I feel people
forget to tell you about Paris is that it is a dirty city and smells
horrible in a lot of places! After the tour was done we made our way
towards the Arc du Triomphe. Along the way we stopped to have some
crepes and did a stopped into a few stores along one of the shopping
streets (forget the name but Prada and such are along here). We lost
the boys along the way but met up with them at the arc with enough
time to grab some pictures and be on our way. Here we asked one person
to take our picture and he looked so scared and didn?t know what to
do. He stuttered a bit before saying he couldn?t and walked away (was
American by the accent)!

After getting ourselves through the metro again we were to our hotel
to change for the night. We didn?t have much time as we wanted to go
on a pub tour that started at 9 but was across the city. We made it
just before 9 and were some of the first in line. We hadn?t had dinner
yet so after getting to the first pub we asked the guides how long we
had before we left and thankfully it was half an hour so we left to
grab some food. Another great eating spot for us on our Paris weekend
was the Quality Burger which was actually really good. For the rest of
the night we stuck with the tour which was made up of about 60 people
or more. Most people were English which made it more fun. It turned
out that there were some other people from UNB and DAL on our tour as
well as some other Canadians. One we found out about the others from
NB and NS we spent a lot of time talking with them. There were 5 from
DAL who had all just graduated engineering (what are the odds) and 1
from UNB who just graduated from UNB. Overall the night was a great
time but we had to leave in order to get the metro home. This is where
our luck of the day ran out?. as none of us had the map anymore we
found the right line but ended up going on the one in the wrong
direction! So we got off once we realized but it turned out that was
the last one of the night. The lady at the station helped us figure
out how to get home which was by taxi as Sam had told us not to take
the night buses. We arrived back to the hotel a little later then
planned but we made it back and headed to bed.

The next morning we woke up to some cloudy weather but headed into the
city for the day. We got off the metro near the Eiffel tower to grab
some breakfast. This is when the rain began?I was glad I had brought
my umbrella! It let up for a bit as we were leaving so we headed to
the tower. The rain stopped long enough for us to spend a bit of time
here. The lines were crazy to go up in the tower so we didn?t get to
do that. Our plan was to head towards the Louvre walking through the
city. We did just this stopping here and there at different stores and
sights. We found a huge department store and spent quite a bit of time
in the shoe section to the boy?s disapproval. I had found a place that
sold macaroons so we stopped here to treat ourselves to some and they
were delicious and I?m sure Gossip Girl approved. We continued on our
way towards the Louvre and made it there shortly after 4. Sam had told
us about a ?secret? entrance to the museum so we didn?t have to wait
in line. Really it?s the student entrance for those studying in Paris
but no one really knows about it. Sam also told us how to get into the
museum free but all we had to do was speak French to the lady and show
her our international id?s saying we were studying abroad and we were
in. We didn?t know that the museum closed at 5:30 that night so we
only were there for a short while but the Mona Lisa and going
underneath the invisible pyramids were visited.

In the Louvre we ran into three of the American guys we had met the
night before on our pub tour and decided to meet up with them after
the museum for dinner. Kyle Paul and Hewey are from Atlanta where they
study, you?ll never guess, engineering and neuro science. Seems the
pub tour the night before was filled with engineers. We met with them
outside by the center pyramided just as it started to rain again. We
decided to find a place to eat near by and found a great little
restaurant that had just enough space left for the 9 of us. We had a
great meal and made plans to meet up with the boys again later to see
the light show at the Eiffel tower. Since most of us didn?t have
umbrella?s we ran to the nearest, what we thought, metro entrance.
Turns out it was an entrance but there was no place to buy tickets at
this one. As it was pouring we all just managed to get through the
exit? well Jenn got stuck for a minute but we made it. At the hotel we
dried, relaxed far a few and prepared ourselves for the rain again.

We were a bit later then planned arriving and missed the light show at
11. When we got to the tower and to the meeting spot we had made with
the boys they were not there. We figured they must have just left once
they realized we weren?t there. Our original plan had been to have a
picnic and watch the show but the rain made the grass an unwelcoming
spot to sit. So we decided to have our picnic on the bridge behind the
tower while we waited for the show at midnight. We did just this and
decided to head to the other side of the tower for the show when it
was almost time. As we did this we found the American boys who had
been late and thought they had missed us. So in the end we saw the
show and had our picnic at the tower after all (the light show is
actually nothing impressive). After this we headed to the metro to
make sure we made the trains on time and the right direction this
time. Here we left the boys as they were headed in a different
direction. We made it back and packed our things as we were all
leaving in the morning Emily Colin and I with and early taxi to the
airport and Jenn Erin and Jordan back to an early train. So with that
it was sadly the end of our Paris adventures.

We arrived to Stuttgart late but in enough time for Colin and Emily to
catch there trains and buses home. I stayed in the city for the day to
watch the Harry Potter movie that night. We went to the Porsche museum
and the living room of Stuttgart before meeting up with Danielle for
dinner. We had dinner and ice cream then caught the ubahn to the
theater. I am glad I reserved tickets as the show was sold out! Being
one of the only English theaters around it was filled! The movie was
great but sadly they are all over with. After the movie we headed home
and called it a night.

As you can see this was a long one and that is why I didn?t retype it
last night. I hope I didn?t forget anything! This week is a bit slower
as the forecast is calling for rain all week, but the coming weekend
will be good. As were calling it ?Canada does Heidelberg? there are
about 10 or so Canadians maybe some of the American?s from Paris and
an odd German or two meeting up this weekend. So stay tuned for more
adventures of the crazy Canadian?s as we?re called. Chow :)

Update about the Paris adventures will come. I had it almost done
tonight but my computer froze and i couldn't save it before it
restarted sadly. So until then here is a picture :)

Well the last two days have been very tame work days and very rainy. I
had to leave my bike at home today since an umbrella was needed!
Monday afternoon was scorching hot then the rain, thunder and
lightening started that night and has yet to really give up for more
then short periods of time. With the rain I was thankfully able to get
some laundry done and catch up on my reading.

Work was a bit slow today compared to yesterday. I was busy working on
a lab and doing nanoscans but today no one had much for me to do other
than to continue nanoscans. So I took the time to organize my head
onto paper a bit with some to do list and planning for school and
proctor programs. Some how the day did go rather quickly so it was nice.

Tonight was another rainy day so after work I went to the train
station to cancel my bahn card (you have to do it 6 weeks early) and
they said they actually send my my plastic card in the next few days
as I haven't received it yet (that was because I didn't know about
needing your name on the box..). After that I headed home for some
supper, shower and packing as I am off to Paris for the weekend!

Emily Colin and I are flying in tomorrow night and Erin, Jenn and
JOrdan arrive by train on Friday morning. It hopefully should be a
great weekend! We fly back in on Sunday but I am going to stay in
Stuttgart for the afternoon so I can see the new Harry Potter movie in
ENGLISH! yay I think I'm in for a great weekend. So with that I say
good night and will fill you in more on this crazy Canadian's
adventures next week! Chow:)

Dresden Weekend Adventures

The weekend started off as an early morning of being to work by 7am so
I could leave early for the weekend. I was impressed that I made it on
time and was fully awake! There however was an interesting situation
when I arrived. A few people from the building were all standing
outside looking at something in doorway to the office. When I got
closer I found out that it was a boy my guess is about 13 or so asleep
in a ball... I never did find out where/who he was as my German is
still not there. There were enough people to look after him without me
and my lack of communication so I continued on with my day.

Work went by very fast on Friday it usually is one of the longest days
since I am waiting to go somewhere usually. I spent the day running
nanofocus pictures and started taking inventory and sorting the
chemicals in the chem lab.

Once the time arrived I headed out. We were driving which means the
autobahn in this country! I am however getting use to it I think as at
one point I asked why we were going so slow and we were actually going
120 km/h. I am not driving and was driving with someone who has driven
many many times so no worries. It took us about 5 hours to go from
Heidenheim to Dresden but the drive was great and very beautiful. At
one point we were literally driving on the Czech boarder. Another
point in time you could clearly tell where the old boarder between
East and West Germany was so it was an interesting drive.

Once we arrived cleaned up and dropped our things off we headed out
for supper. We went to a great place to eat and I once again confused
the waiter by speaking different languages each time they came to the
table. After dinner we headed to down town as it is gorgeous in the
dark with all the lights. There was a concert going on as well on the
water front so we could hear it form the bridge which is one of the
things that Dresden is famous for. After this we took the tram home as
it was getting late and we were tired from the day of traveling.

For Saturday we were tourists for a good part of the day and I learned
a lot about the city's history and different aspects of how it was
affected by the war. One of the churches that was almost completely
destroyed was just finished being rebuilt in the past 5 years. After
a short nap and some supper (found chicken wings!) We headed back to
the river to meet some friends for the evening. It was really great we
all took blankets drinks and snacks and relaxed by the river listening
to music (there was another concert) and ended the night with
fireworks. As the steam boats that run the river were 175 years (just
a bit older then Canada but hey)

For Sunday it was so nice to be able to sleep in as it seems I have
been running non stop lately. Then after a late breakfast the last bit
of my Dresden trip was spent walking around just taking things in. My
camera died so there are not a whole lot of pictures but I promise
some from Paris for those of you who are my Facebook friends.

We arrived back late last night as we wanted to avoided the heaviest
traffic on the autobahn. We also ran into some rain so we left the
autobahn until it cleared. So this morning at work was hard to get up
to but I made it. The day was a hot but quick one though. I was able
to finish the sorting and inventory of the chem lab so that made the
day fly.

Those are the updates on the latest escapade stay tuned for more. Nighty night

Off to Dresden for the weekend stories when I return :)

Well things are getting back to a little less crazy schedule. Today
and yesterday were a bit slow at work because apparently I finish
things faster then they think I can! All the same itäs better then
reading all day. Today I also had a phone call with my prof from UNB
so that took up an hour of the afternoon. I should be getting new
project tomorrow so I'm not worried.

Tonight was stammtisch at teh Piazza cafe where there was free dinner.
After that I made another sucessful trip on my bike and am calling it
a night. Sleep is required as I am off to Dresden this weekend and
Paris next weekend :)

Munich Adventures

This weekend I ventured off to visit Hanna and her family. They live
just outside of Munich but we spent most of our time in the city.

Friday was Canada Day and now the German's really think that I am
crazy. I wore my red to work and was excited about to Munich. Every
time I said morgan Happy Canada Day! the respone was what?..... after
I got some odd looks. They don't celebrate Germany like this anymore.
They were nice enough to print and make a flag for me when I was in
the lab. I came back to my desk to have a nice flag attached to my
computer! Once work was over (well I left early) I hoped on the train
and headed on my way.

Hanna and her mom and dad were at the station to meet me. We then gave
my bags to her parents as they dropped us off at Tollwod. Which is a
festival where there are all kinds of vendors, entertainors, music and
beer gardens of course. Hanna and I spent the night here celebrating
Canada day. We got odd looks not only for saying happy canada day but
speaking english. After it was getting a bit cold so we caught a train
back to Hanna's town and called it a night.

On Saturday morning after a breakfast with the family Hanna, her mom
and I grabbed the train back into the city. It was raining a bit on
and off so we decided to do a bus tour of the city which worked out
perfect as there was one leaving the main station just as we arrived.
The tour was great and we saw a lot of the city and learned some of
the history. After the tour we explored the city by foot before
meeting Hanna's Dad at a beer a beer house for supper. Where I had a
real Bavarian meal aka a hunk of meet and potato dumpling. For the
rest of the night Hanna and I met with some of her friends in her home
town for another festival. Here I had a giant pretzal with my beer and
found out I was the only Canadian in the crowd..... turns out one of
the bands was Canadian and asked if there were more. I was the only
one who was and happened to be standing by the stage.

For Sunday we spent the day at the museum in Munich. It was a since
and technology museum that was fabulous! We were there for a few hours
but I think I could have spent days there. Sadly after grabbing some
supper I boarded the train and headed back home.

Today I was back in the swing of things at work and was busy all day.
I even managed to ride my new bike safely to and from work with no
issues!

That's the latest in my life but there is more to come :) nighty night

Stories from the adventures in Munich tomorrow