Europareise / Eurotour (part 1)

Here´s the basic outline (given to us (the exchange students of District 1940) by Rotary, (very roughly translated by me) of our Europaeise (to be explained in more detail afterward):

Rotary International
Youth Exchange Committee - District 1940
EUROPAREISE
Germany – Czech Republic – Austria – Italy
19th of April – 5th of May, 2008

PROGRAM

1/Saturday (4.19.)
BERLIN – DRESDEN
All exchange students arrive at Berlin individually. They all should be at Berlin Ostbahnhof (a train station) at 1:30PM at the latest. Greetings and a short introduction/briefing are held by the three Rotary chaperons/tour guides. Start driving towards Dresden at 2PM.

2/Sunday (4.20.)
DRESDEN
Dresden is an art metropolis in Europe. Although the city was badly damaged in WWII and flooded in 2004, we can still wonder at the outstanding art monuments and the valuable art collections today. Almost everything that was destroyed was rebuilt. On our stroll through Dresden we will see the famous Semper Opera, the barock castle, the Zwinger and the Brühlsche Terrasse. We will be able to visit the Green Vault. There, one can wonder at King August the strong´s treasure chamber, for example, there is a well known cherry pit that has 180 little faces carved into it. The afternoon is freetime.

3/Monday (4.21.)
DRESDEN – PRAG
After breakfast we will go by ship on the Elbe river through the "Saxton Switzerand", to Bastei, a labyrinth of gorges which, with its 200m high cliffs of rock, is one of Europes most beautiful natural sights. On the cliffs there is the Bastei Bridge (built in 1881), from which you can have a manificent view. Afterwards, we continue driving, past the Czech Republic border, until we meet our destination: Prag.

4/Tuesday (4.22.)
PRAG
Sightseeing in Prag is on the program for today. The "golden city" is one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe and is a glittering metropolis with a large history. Prag is located on the Moldau river over which the famous Karl Bride streches. The Burg Hradschin and the Strahov-Kloster raise over the city and give the city its special flair.

5/Wednesday (4.23.)
PRAG – VIENNA
The bus brings us today through the Czech Republic and Austria to Vienna, the capital of Austria. Beautiful churches, palaces, theaters, rich bourgeois houses, teh typical viennish coffee houses, and lots of park: that´s Vienna. The emblem of the city are the horse-drawn carriage (called "Fiaker") that drive all over the city. It is a delightful cosmopolitian city that is full of life.

6/Thursday (4.24.)
VIENNA
Today we get to know the Kings city. The city tour leaves in the morning and goes to the Museumsquartier and colorful Hundertwasser-Haus. Things worth seeing include the Staatsoper (city opera), and Stephansplatz (with the well known Stephansdom (Stephans Cathedrial)), wich is in the middle of the city and has the nickname "Steffl" from the Viennese. The evening is free time. There is an opporitunity to wander through the city center and eat Sachertorte (a sort of chocolate cake) or to visit the famous viennese museums.

7/Friday (4.25.)
VIENNA
We visit the Schönbrunn castle in the morning. One can stroll through 40 halls in this castle, also through the Spiegelsaal, where the six year old Mozart played music for the austrian queen. The afternoon is freetime.

8/Saturday (4.26.)
VIENNA – VENICE
Drive from Vienna through the Alps to Venice, Italy. Venice is the "Queen of the Mediterranean Sea" and is located on 118 islands (very close to one another) which are connected by more than 400 bridges. There are only water canals in the center of Venice in which the boats and gondolas can sail (no cars, no streets).

9/Sunday (4.27.)
VENICE
Today we extensively see the beautiful city and have a boatride on Venice´s main canal (the Canale Grande). The impression is unforgetable: many old palaces and churches stand on either side. The white Rialto Bridge streches over the narrowest part of the main canal, and the most important marketplace is the Markusplatz with its high bell tower, the Campanile, with the wonderful Dogen Palace and the Basilika San Marco. An attraction is the numerous pidgeons that cover the plaza.

10/Monday (4.28.)
VENICE – ROME
After seeing impressive Venice, we drive further south to Rome, the capital of Italy and one of the worlds most fasinating cities, with the, from Hollywood movies such as „Three Coins in a Fountain“, the Trevi-Fountain, in which we will also want to throw a coin, to make sure that we come back to Rome.

11/Tuesday (4.29.)
ROME
Today we drive together to the vatican and look around the vatican museum with the famous Sistine Chapel, the Peterplatz, and the Peters Church (the biggest balisca of the christian world), with the precious fextravaganza, such as Michelangelos Pietà and the Petrus statue. Afterwards there is an opporitunity to visit the catacombs under St. Peters Church (with the grave of Pope Johannes Paul II). The evening is freetime. You have the opportuniy to visit the spanish stairs at the Piazza di Spagna.

days 12-17 to come.

Catch up time...

Wow. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks, so it may take a little while to catch up on all of it. Three main things:
1. Wir Sind Helden concert on the 13th of April
2. Mom and Dad´s visit to Potsdam and Berlin (16th - 18th of April)
3. Eurotour! A fun-filled bus trip with 43 other exchange students through Germany, Czech., Austria, and Italy (19th of April - 5th of May)

Now for the embellishment (I´m not quite sure if I am using that word correctly, but oh well). First off, the Wir Sind Helden concert was amazing. I got tickets for the Sunday performance because the Satuday one was sold out when I bought the ticktets. The concert was in a club in Potsdam, so we didn´t have to travel far to get there or home. I first heard about Wir Sind Helden last year in German class when we listened to a little of their music. Dad saw that they were giving a concert in Postdam around my birthda, so I got the tickets as a b-day gift. It was me, Andres (from Chilie), Heather (from the states), and Alex (a german Rebound who went to Thailand last year). At first, i was a little suprised because I thought that there would be many more people and that they would be dancing a lot more. The intro band was from France and they sung pretty well, but no one seemed to be moving. Our little group jumped and danced to try and get the others in the mood, but it didn´t work as well as we had hoped. Then Wir Sind Helden came and everybody started to move around. It got quite hot, and about half way through a giant magically appeared infront of us (well, in front of Heather, who is a little on the short side to begin with, so it didn´t really help), but other than that, it was an eventful exciting evening. We even bumped into a couple of people I know from school there. When it was over, we all went home, but the night was far from over. Andres went back to his house because he lives in Postdam, so it wasn´t a problem. Alex was going to sleep over at my house, and Heather was going to take the next train back to Berlin so she could get back faster (they both live in Berlin). Alex and I dropped Heather off at the train station and went back home to sleep. About an hour later, after Alex and I had enjoyed the leftovers that my family had lovingly saved for me (Klößer, gravey, and duck if I remember correctly. YUM!!) I got a phone call from Heather saying that her train (as well as any other train) had not come. I felt so bad because she had been waiting alone in the cold (the trainstation is open air) for a whole hour! She came back and slept, to take the train at 5:45. Luckily she made it, even though she forgot her bag and had to run back after she had walked half way to the trainstation. That morning, Alex and I (along with the fam) ate breakfast and headed off our different directions for the day.
I´m going to have to finish up later because I have to head off to school soon (I just had two free periods, so I had some time). This morning, I went to a bird watching thing for 2 hours in teh Neue Garten. It was amazing how the guy who was leading us (he was a professor) could tell what every bird was simply by hearing it or see it flying through the air. He had a lot of interesting little stories, and it was all in all an interesting stroll through the garden.