So, I woke up before the sun again (it's really pretty, so I don't really mind it), and went to class, blah blah. Different location, but I was able to hear better! So that was nice. Class ended at 9:30, and I made my way home quickly. After telling Rachel and Trevor of my Speyer experience, I had them sold on going, and I would be their personal tour guide, which meant the sooner I got back, the sooner we could leave and enjoy, what turned out to be, an absolutely wonderful day [19+ degrees]! I think the pictures will narrate most of this story.
We left and arrived at the Hauptbahnhof on time, but somehow managed to distract ourselves and miss the train. We had another 30 minutes until the next one came so we bought some food from a Backerei (bakery). She and Trevor bought some of the most powder-sugar covered Berliners we had seen and I bought a Marzipanhörnchen, which I regret not taking a picture of because it was delicious. It's called a "little marzipan horn" in English because it was a pastry in the shape of a U filled with marzipan/ almond paste.
When we arrived in Speyer, and made our way to the Altpörtel and the Kaiserdom we were still a little hungry so the two of them bought Gelato because there were so many shops and for relatively cheap! I love it! I ended up buying myself a sandwich with Gouda cheese. I completely butchered the pronunciation auf Deutsch. I never know if they use the English way for some words. I said gOOdah and it's pronounced gOWdah. Nevertheless, it was delicious and very enjoyable, minus the ingredients not saying mayonnaise.
(The beautiful sunrise - Front of the Kaiserdom - I got a picture on the city wall this time!)
(Some kinds hanging out in the bowl outside of the Kaiserdom - A better picture [with better lighting] of the organ - And a better picture of the interior)
(We decided to go into the crypt since I don't think any of us had been in one before! It was smaller than I had expected.)
(Graves - List of people in the following picture - Well, you can't actually see them here...)
(After touring the Dom again, we got some more snacks [I bought a "MonCherie" gelato scoop. Chocolate with some cherries.] and decided to copy the kids from earlier, eating in the bowl. - I really liked the way this building looked, and with the sun, it looks even better!)
(After looking at a map in an attempt to find the Gothic church I had seen from the Altpörtel, I led us astray. I don't actually know what this church was. - The monocle and mustache must mean this is the gentleman's drink - A picture of the green area behind the church and the "Gothic Chapel")
(This was another church I had wanted to see/ had seen. This one turned out to be the catholic church! - This church was also incredibly beautiful. The churches never cease to amaze me.)
(The Alter - A few of the beautiful stations of the cross - The stairs to the organ)
(Now this is what I was talking about. The architecture is really awesome looking. It turns out that this is actually a Gothic Protehdral [protestant church] )
(To save space of all my pictures, here's a quick tour! I enjoyed that someone was playing the organ while we were there too.)
(Some stairs we wandered up and down - A view of the prothedral and the catholic church in the background - another view of the catholic church)
After visiting both of the churches, we remembered that there was a technik museum (technology museum). I had grabbed an info brochure from the train station and showed it to the others. After looking it over, it was only a vehicle museum and maybe a few planes, not quite what we wanted. We ended up calling it a day. After all, we had been in Speyer for 4 hours! After meandering back, the two of them decided they wanted to get gelato from a side street vendor, just for the heck of it. We sat down and continued to enjoy the weather.
After they finished up, we made our way back to the Hauptbahnhof, we passed a cheese shop. We all like cheese and decided to take a peak. We walked in and the man got up and started chatting with us. I felt bad because we were all there just to look and to smell. After a bit, he called his wife over because she could speak English and said we could try the cheese if we wanted. Again, we declined because we weren't planning on buying anything. Finally, she made the choice for us and sliced up a few pieces and gave it to us. It was soo good, that I had to buy some! The cheese was a slightly softer cheese called "Winzerpastete". I would definitely recommend it, the price also seemed pretty reasonable. If you're ever in Speyer, I would recommend Michael Bader on Gildenstrasse for cheese! ooh boy!
Anyhow, we got to the Hauptbahnhof and boarded the train. It was a little busier this time around so we had to sit with another person. I asked if the seat was free and said thank you in German and she responded in what sounded like American English. After a little bit the three of us were talking and somehow we came upon the topic of the British version of Jersey Shore and someone wondered if they had one in Germany. i said the Germans were too good for that show, but the woman sitting next to me piped up that they watch Jersey Shore here.
For the rest of the ride we chatted with her. We found out that she was from Washington DC area and that she studied art and could not find herself a job, ended up being a waitress, a maid, all sorts of things that were not worthy of a bachelor's degree. Finally, she decided to become an Au Pair in Germany and then became an English Teacher at Blitzer. It was very interesting, listening to her summed up life story. It was probably best that she didn't ask what we were studying, especially since all three of us are studying to be engineers, since we'll more than likely be able to find jobs. We also found out from her that there is apparently a lot of people who are milking the system with their unemployment/ welfare system. I didn't quite understand it all, but she seemed rather against the social system they have in Germany.
Ah well, we arrived home around just before dinner time. We decided we would go out to eat, well, they decided, I had delicious chicken soup without water leftovers. I joined them, figuring I could just hangout and get something to drink. We find a Greek restaurant and it's completely empty, we didn't see a waiter or anything. After I called out "Hallo?", a man came out saying he wasn't expecting customers for another 3 or 4 hours. He seemed a little disorganized with everything. I tried to order something to drink, something strawberry and lime, I think, and he had no idea what it was. I pointed it on the menu and he shook his head saying his son did those things. It made no sense to me, but at least Rachel and Trevor got gyros. The man wandered off before they could order their drinks. They got their food, it all looked very delicious, and a little while later he realized he didn't ask for drinks.
I ended up mooching some fries and most of Rachel's tzatzitki sauce, since she didn't like it. It was all quite delicious. After that, we all hung out for a bit with mannheim steamrollers, watched several LMFAO videos, and then I let them be since Trevor would be leaving the following day.
Whew, that was a more exciting day than I expected. I guess the pictures really help fill it up...
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