Schnitzel in Rothenburg

With George, the Nightwatchman

Rothenburg

Heiligblutaltar

Rothenburg

Rothenburger Wanderung

Wanderung

Das Plönlein in Rothenburg, the most photographed spot in Germany

Wanderung 

On the hilltop opposite Rothenberg

A short tour of the Rhine on a beautiful day!

After an afternoon swinging through the trees, our arms were falling off!

Day II – Our City Tour took us to all the sights: Brandenburg Gate, the wall, Olympic Stadium, Reichstag, Holocaust Memorial, and Sans Souci.

Checkpoint Charlie

The East Side Gallery – remnant of the Berlin Wall.

In front of the Brandenburg Gate

The Holocaust Memorial

In front of the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament

Sans Souci, Summer palace of Frederick The Great

“Sans Souci!”

We left for Berlin this morning, being pelted by heavy rains. The closer we got, however, the more the weather improved. Along the way, we stopped at the old East West order crossing at Marienborn. Perhaps nothing epitomised the Cold War and the division of Europe better than this location, the “iron curtain.”

Thursday afternoon took us to the Ketterwald, a ropes challenge course in the trees. Despite a couple of showers, we had a great afternoon! Stay tuned – I will try to put together a video of the afternoon and post it here.

Museumsdorf Cloppenburg, an open-air museum near Löningen, documents rural life in the 18th and 19th century in northwestern Germany. The founders, beginning in the 1930’s, dismantled these old structures before they were lost to time, relocating and rebuilding them on their present site. Life was very hard for most – not enough food, too much disease, and very high mortality rate. Only the land owners, the rich few, had enough land to make ends meet. The others had few good options – try to survive, marry well, or go to America. We were able to make connections to our experience at the Auswandererhaus in Bremerhaven.

18th Farmhouse (of a rich farmer)

Museumsdorf – village church in background

We left on Friday morning, 8:00 am, for a college visit in Oldenburg.  We spent most of the day with our German partners attending lectures, presentations, and information sessions for those interested in attending this recognized university.  We arrived back at Copernicus Gymnasium at about 3:00 o’clock and saddled up for our 25-kilometer bike ride through the villages and countryside.  It all culminated in a wonderful cook-out at the home of the Albers Family.  What a great day!

We had the official welcome at school this morning. Lots of smiles and lots of applause! Each of our students stood up and introduced him or herself in German and added a couple of “fun facts.“ So…, public speaking in another country in another language…,kind of makes the senior speech look easy! You can see more here: