Phoenix's Europe Tour
Its the beginning of morning three in Germany. We've all packed up our bags and checked out of Kloster Eberbach, but not after another very ample continental style breakfast. Today's breakfast was almost an exact copy of yesterday's the only remarkable addition being a thin slice of herbed salmon. I still think fish isn't my favourite, especially for breakfast, but I thought it might be worthwhile to give it a try.
Last night's sleep was the most sound so far. No strange dreams of sleeping or fretting about making sure I had adjusted my watch to the correct time zone. I had another shower to wake me up despite having one before bed last night. Last night I needed one just to wash away the heat of the day, but this morning it was refreshing and helped get me moving. Before packing I completely unpacked my bag in search of my missing camera battery charger. I'd gone to plug in my camera battery to make sure I was ready for another day of frantic photo snapping when I had discovered it missing. I looked through my day bag a handful of times then searched through my main bag. I even asked Chris if he had accidentally packed it in with his bags (he's brought not one, but two cameras - one compact one a model or two older than mine and his SLR) After searching for the umpteenth time, I decided I would just hold out hope that I'd dropped it on the bus and packed the rest of my things up to head off to breakfast. Breakfast was very filling, and the company was good with Chris, Leanne and a few others at our table.
So now we are on the bus making our way to Trier where we will have the afternoon to wander around after checking in at R. Schumann House. In a stoke of good lucky, my camera bag with my charger was lying on the floor of the bus! No need to taper my photography.
The bus ride from Kloster Eberbach to Trier has been the longest trip so far. I've spent most of the time looking out the window and listening to music when I haven't been making entries here. I wanted to jot down a few thoughts before I forget all of them. Everything is so green... it's obvious that agriculture plays an important in this region of the country. Most of the land I can see is a patchwork of agricultural plots all very neatly arranging into row upon row of differnt crops. The roads and motorways have been surrounded by greenery as well, some of the species of trees and shrubs familiar and others new to me. I don't claim to know much about horticulture but I can see that there are some different species here. Lots of the crops are spread up the hills as well, many of them I think are related to the wineries that seem popular in every town we have stopped in so far.
The motorway and highways have been pretty interesting, but on the most part they flow much better than anything back home. There is tons of signage along the routes, some of which I can make out and others that still leave me scratching my head. They had some particularily interesting signage above the lanes on the motorway that set differing speed limits on each lane and limits on the types of vehicles that could use them. They were electronic too, so they must change depending on flow and other traffic conditions. I should sit down with Sasha at some point and pick his brain on what they all mean.
We've pasted through some contruction areas too, with the one surprising thing being the dress of the contruction workers. The few workers I have seen so far seem to be dressed differently than similar crews I might see at home. The first thing I thought odd was a worker at the airport who was wearing sandals (Birkenstock style) when he helped us off load he plane into the buses to head back to the terminal. Then today, while passing a paving crew, I noticed that one of the men working wasn't even wearing a shirt! I think the Worksafe BC would have a hayday with something like this. I know its warm outside, but wouldn't want to take any risks having hot asphalt near my bare chest, ouch!
We've just pulled into Trier now and are making our way up the hill to R. Schumann house. We are going to unload and eat some lunch before heading back into town to wander around until dinner time.
We reached the end of the day so I will reflect on what happened. Getting up to Robert Schuman Haus turned out to be quite the ordeal The road was under construction so a large portion of what was usually road was just an open pit right before a very narrow road that led there. Once again, Sasha proved his amazing skill at maneovering our behemouth of a bus through the mess of contruction barriers with only minimal damage to the front bumper. I think some European drivers could put our North American drivers to shame with the amount of driving they do on there incredibly narrow streets in the cities here.
When we did finally arrive at R. Schuman Haus we were very impressed with the accomodation. R. Schuman house is named after a famous theologian and politician born in France but important to Germany. The building we are used in is used as the Catholic Academy, which I am told is similar to the Vancouver School of Theology for the type of schooling it provides, and has some remarkable dorms. I've stayed in dorms in other schools on otherr trips and this one definately takes the cake. I am more than glad that we get to spend 3 evenings here instead of packing up and moving right away. It's hard to describe in words, so I'll make sure to post a photo later. The entire building appears to have been renovated in the fairly recent past, including amazing dual function windows that seem to be popular in Europe. The dorm rooms have a private washroom in between them and their beds on opposite walls, a small table in between, and two dormer windows. The walls are all crisp white - as are all the walls in the building - and the furniture is built in in what looks like a light stained birch or something similar. The amazing part is the view out the window though. The windows let in incredible natural light during the day, flooding the room and offer an amazing view of the city below. This building, with its white walls and heavy glass and metal doors seems to embody a sense of calm and solitude. After we were settled in, we took the bus back down into the city to look around.
For the most part we began our visit in a single group, except for the few people who had elected to walk down to the city instead of taking the bus. Some of the choir members had already visited Trier during their 2002 tour, so had made a list of sights that they had missed out on before. One of those sights was the Paulini Cathedral. It was an impressive building with an almost unbelievably high ceiling gorgeously decorated with religious works. While the history of the church and the religious depictions were of no interest to me, the detail work in everything from the ceilings, walls, paintings, and wooden pews was remarkable. I took a few shots of the inside but I think I will have to hit up someone with a more powerful camera for a better depiction. While we were there, and since we had the majority of the choir, we performed our russion piece, Bogoroditsyehvo. Although the cathedral was empty save for us when we began, a group of people came into the doors right after we started, so it turned into a impromptu mini concert. The walk to the cathedral and wandering through it only left us wth about 2 more hours to see the city, so Chris and I wandered back to the Black Gate where we had first been dropped off so that we could explore more of the toursity part of town. The Black Gate, or Pora Nigra (from Latin) is a massive structure in the heart of the city. It was once one of 5 gates to a walled in city that was part of the Roman Empire. With the title, the Oldest City in Germany, there is alot of history and importance to Trier. I didn't have much time to see the city, but I did manage to pick up a small visitors guide in English so I could learn more about the Porta Nigra, the catherdral and the Roman Baths.
From the Porta Nigra, Chris and I wandered into the market, do pick up some much needed water and other supplies. Chris was on a mission to find a good strap for his SLR and I was mostly just looking to restock my liquid supply. We decided to hit two of the department stores in the market, Galeria Kaufhof and Kardstadt. I picked up a couple gifts at the Galeria but they didn't have a grocery department. Before leaving the Galeria, we hit the Saturn upstairs, which is an electonics store, where Chris found his coveted strap...it even says Canon on it!
Next we hit the Kardstat's grocery department where I picked up some large bottled of table water and 1 each of coke and some Apfel Lift. That brought our afternoon in Trier to an end - well after we managed to procure some taxis to get us back to R. Schuman Haus. Once back up on the hill we had a relatively large meal, despite being warned that dinners would usually be lighter, consisting of lasagna and various meats cheeses and an assortment of interesting salads. The rest of the evening was split between a fairly longish rehearsal in the on site chapel (which remained stark, but had some beautiful stained glass windows), and a bit of a social hour afterwards. The catering group had opened up the small lounge on the mezzanine for us, which was stocked with beer and other beverages availabe on the honour system (we have a similar system in place on our bus for water, beer and champagne). I had a chance to chat with Kate, Chris, Matt, Jaime and Sasha. Sasha led the charge with tales of his exploits as a coach driver and gave us a pretty good impression that he has a mischevious side. We also talked about air travel and the places that we had visited. I decided to pack it in a bit early so that I had time to get my uniform all presentable for the next morning and I've been out of practice with my steamer.
Once everything was set for the next day, I added a bit more to the journal and wrote a few more postcards before crawling into bed for a sound sleep peppered with strange dreams - one of which inlcuded the majority of the cast of Married with Children... I will blame mom for that one!
Last night's sleep was the most sound so far. No strange dreams of sleeping or fretting about making sure I had adjusted my watch to the correct time zone. I had another shower to wake me up despite having one before bed last night. Last night I needed one just to wash away the heat of the day, but this morning it was refreshing and helped get me moving. Before packing I completely unpacked my bag in search of my missing camera battery charger. I'd gone to plug in my camera battery to make sure I was ready for another day of frantic photo snapping when I had discovered it missing. I looked through my day bag a handful of times then searched through my main bag. I even asked Chris if he had accidentally packed it in with his bags (he's brought not one, but two cameras - one compact one a model or two older than mine and his SLR) After searching for the umpteenth time, I decided I would just hold out hope that I'd dropped it on the bus and packed the rest of my things up to head off to breakfast. Breakfast was very filling, and the company was good with Chris, Leanne and a few others at our table.
So now we are on the bus making our way to Trier where we will have the afternoon to wander around after checking in at R. Schumann House. In a stoke of good lucky, my camera bag with my charger was lying on the floor of the bus! No need to taper my photography.
The bus ride from Kloster Eberbach to Trier has been the longest trip so far. I've spent most of the time looking out the window and listening to music when I haven't been making entries here. I wanted to jot down a few thoughts before I forget all of them. Everything is so green... it's obvious that agriculture plays an important in this region of the country. Most of the land I can see is a patchwork of agricultural plots all very neatly arranging into row upon row of differnt crops. The roads and motorways have been surrounded by greenery as well, some of the species of trees and shrubs familiar and others new to me. I don't claim to know much about horticulture but I can see that there are some different species here. Lots of the crops are spread up the hills as well, many of them I think are related to the wineries that seem popular in every town we have stopped in so far.
The motorway and highways have been pretty interesting, but on the most part they flow much better than anything back home. There is tons of signage along the routes, some of which I can make out and others that still leave me scratching my head. They had some particularily interesting signage above the lanes on the motorway that set differing speed limits on each lane and limits on the types of vehicles that could use them. They were electronic too, so they must change depending on flow and other traffic conditions. I should sit down with Sasha at some point and pick his brain on what they all mean.
We've pasted through some contruction areas too, with the one surprising thing being the dress of the contruction workers. The few workers I have seen so far seem to be dressed differently than similar crews I might see at home. The first thing I thought odd was a worker at the airport who was wearing sandals (Birkenstock style) when he helped us off load he plane into the buses to head back to the terminal. Then today, while passing a paving crew, I noticed that one of the men working wasn't even wearing a shirt! I think the Worksafe BC would have a hayday with something like this. I know its warm outside, but wouldn't want to take any risks having hot asphalt near my bare chest, ouch!
We've just pulled into Trier now and are making our way up the hill to R. Schumann house. We are going to unload and eat some lunch before heading back into town to wander around until dinner time.
We reached the end of the day so I will reflect on what happened. Getting up to Robert Schuman Haus turned out to be quite the ordeal The road was under construction so a large portion of what was usually road was just an open pit right before a very narrow road that led there. Once again, Sasha proved his amazing skill at maneovering our behemouth of a bus through the mess of contruction barriers with only minimal damage to the front bumper. I think some European drivers could put our North American drivers to shame with the amount of driving they do on there incredibly narrow streets in the cities here.
When we did finally arrive at R. Schuman Haus we were very impressed with the accomodation. R. Schuman house is named after a famous theologian and politician born in France but important to Germany. The building we are used in is used as the Catholic Academy, which I am told is similar to the Vancouver School of Theology for the type of schooling it provides, and has some remarkable dorms. I've stayed in dorms in other schools on otherr trips and this one definately takes the cake. I am more than glad that we get to spend 3 evenings here instead of packing up and moving right away. It's hard to describe in words, so I'll make sure to post a photo later. The entire building appears to have been renovated in the fairly recent past, including amazing dual function windows that seem to be popular in Europe. The dorm rooms have a private washroom in between them and their beds on opposite walls, a small table in between, and two dormer windows. The walls are all crisp white - as are all the walls in the building - and the furniture is built in in what looks like a light stained birch or something similar. The amazing part is the view out the window though. The windows let in incredible natural light during the day, flooding the room and offer an amazing view of the city below. This building, with its white walls and heavy glass and metal doors seems to embody a sense of calm and solitude. After we were settled in, we took the bus back down into the city to look around.
For the most part we began our visit in a single group, except for the few people who had elected to walk down to the city instead of taking the bus. Some of the choir members had already visited Trier during their 2002 tour, so had made a list of sights that they had missed out on before. One of those sights was the Paulini Cathedral. It was an impressive building with an almost unbelievably high ceiling gorgeously decorated with religious works. While the history of the church and the religious depictions were of no interest to me, the detail work in everything from the ceilings, walls, paintings, and wooden pews was remarkable. I took a few shots of the inside but I think I will have to hit up someone with a more powerful camera for a better depiction. While we were there, and since we had the majority of the choir, we performed our russion piece, Bogoroditsyehvo. Although the cathedral was empty save for us when we began, a group of people came into the doors right after we started, so it turned into a impromptu mini concert. The walk to the cathedral and wandering through it only left us wth about 2 more hours to see the city, so Chris and I wandered back to the Black Gate where we had first been dropped off so that we could explore more of the toursity part of town. The Black Gate, or Pora Nigra (from Latin) is a massive structure in the heart of the city. It was once one of 5 gates to a walled in city that was part of the Roman Empire. With the title, the Oldest City in Germany, there is alot of history and importance to Trier. I didn't have much time to see the city, but I did manage to pick up a small visitors guide in English so I could learn more about the Porta Nigra, the catherdral and the Roman Baths.
From the Porta Nigra, Chris and I wandered into the market, do pick up some much needed water and other supplies. Chris was on a mission to find a good strap for his SLR and I was mostly just looking to restock my liquid supply. We decided to hit two of the department stores in the market, Galeria Kaufhof and Kardstadt. I picked up a couple gifts at the Galeria but they didn't have a grocery department. Before leaving the Galeria, we hit the Saturn upstairs, which is an electonics store, where Chris found his coveted strap...it even says Canon on it!
Next we hit the Kardstat's grocery department where I picked up some large bottled of table water and 1 each of coke and some Apfel Lift. That brought our afternoon in Trier to an end - well after we managed to procure some taxis to get us back to R. Schuman Haus. Once back up on the hill we had a relatively large meal, despite being warned that dinners would usually be lighter, consisting of lasagna and various meats cheeses and an assortment of interesting salads. The rest of the evening was split between a fairly longish rehearsal in the on site chapel (which remained stark, but had some beautiful stained glass windows), and a bit of a social hour afterwards. The catering group had opened up the small lounge on the mezzanine for us, which was stocked with beer and other beverages availabe on the honour system (we have a similar system in place on our bus for water, beer and champagne). I had a chance to chat with Kate, Chris, Matt, Jaime and Sasha. Sasha led the charge with tales of his exploits as a coach driver and gave us a pretty good impression that he has a mischevious side. We also talked about air travel and the places that we had visited. I decided to pack it in a bit early so that I had time to get my uniform all presentable for the next morning and I've been out of practice with my steamer.
Once everything was set for the next day, I added a bit more to the journal and wrote a few more postcards before crawling into bed for a sound sleep peppered with strange dreams - one of which inlcuded the majority of the cast of Married with Children... I will blame mom for that one!