Another day at the library

I woke up this morning to a slight breeze blowing through the window and the sun shining. After getting cleaned up for the day, I put on capris and a white shirt and headed downstairs for breakfast of toast with Nutella and a banana. Alegra came in and greedily attacked her water bowl while Petra changed for work. We were off with time to spare and Petra and I discussed 4th of July plans in the car. She had offered to do a barbecue, but it seemed that no one else in the group wanted to do that, so we decided to postpone that until some evening next week when Benny is here. Petra dropped me off at her shop and I walked to catch the train. After taking the bus from Pasing, I arrived at the library with a few minutes to spare, so I watched the ducks around the lake.

I spent the morning working on writing up the last bit of the science unit and fine tuning some other sections of my paper. I also had a few minutes to do a bit of job research; nothing promising, but at least I'm trying. I found some new resources to use in my math unit, as well as some information to add to the rationale of my paper, so that was helpful. We went to lunch at 12:30 and again were able to sit on the patio. Lunch today was a German version of macaroni and cheese with homemade french fried onions on top, and a side salad. Tiffany did not want her salad, so I ate hers as well as mine. (It made me feel better about not having any veggies to speak of yesterday.) Lyme and Shea ordered alfredos after lunch, but I just enjoyed the conversation. Petra and Johahn joined us for lunch today, so that was fun. Johahn leaves tomorrow for his family holiday to Spain for two weeks. Since he is the Spanish language expert at the library, he prefers to take his vacations to Spanish speaking countries. I was hoping that he would be here when Benny arrived, since Benny would enjoy his perspective on history, but no such luck. After lunch, Mary and I went to the locker area to refill our water bottles and chat for a few minutes before getting back to work.

I spent the afternoon narrowing down pages I wanted to copy (it's .20 E a page to copy, so I'm trying not to copy too much) and reading some more of the books that I can't take out of the library. I continued finding some online secondary literature sources using some of the online journals through ASU, as well as filling in some holes in my math unit outline. I made my to do list for tomorrow, since I'm going to spend tomorrow morning working on my paper. My goal is to finish and submit the rough draft of my paper by Sunday evening, so that I can spend Monday picking up Benny from the airport, getting settled at the house and acquainted with the neighborhood, etc. The rain began falling around 3:00 at the library (the picture here is before the rain came) and continued all the way until I got back to the house (so I didn't get to take a picture of the bakery).

The cat is currently lounging on my bed as I listen to NPR and browse some various other blogs. I'll spend the rest of the evening working on draft one of my math unit and perhaps visiting with Petra and Petra during girls night before getting into bed.

Bavarian State Library

I got up early enough today to get my shower and get ready, and then make my blog posting from yesterday. Breakfast today was toast with Nutella and a banana, which were quite tasty. Petra and I had a nice visit in the car this morning, discussing our tour with Johahn and Alegra's impromtu swim in the pond during their walk this morning. She also shared with me that children here learn to ride a bike by age 3-4 and are quite adept at it (as I've seen around town). However, they are not allowed to ride to school (usually only 1-1.5 km from where they live) on their bikes until they reach 4th grade, where they have to take a bike test of sorts and get a "license" from the state, which gives them the authorization to ride on their own, without the supervision of a parent. After Petra dropped me off, I caught the train, the bus in Pasing, and was at the library a few minutes before 10:00 to visit with Mary under the linden tree before our work began.

During my work time this morning, I managed to write the bulk of the science unit into the paper, so I've only got two more major sections to complete tomorrow and Saturday morning before turning in the rough draft on Monday. I had enough additional time this morning to organize the pictures for the blog and eventual Movie Maker project. We went to lunch a few minutes early today so that we could be on time for our 2:00 appointment for a tour at the Bavarian State Library.

Lunch today was again on the patio, which was gorgeous. We enjoyed cordon bleu, which seemed to be made with a boneless pork cutlet, rather than chicken, but was very tasty. There was also a portion of roasted potatoes with chives and bacon. The waiter brought us all some tap water today, which was a nice treat. During lunch, we discussed our plans to take Petra, our host from the library, out to dinner the night before we leave. After eating lunch, we gathered our belongings from the locker area and headed to the bus.

A bus, train, and U-bahn ride later, we were at the Bavarian State Library, which is one of the oldest libraries in Germany. The collection began with a vision from Duke Albrecht V in 1558, and expanded in 1803 with donations from monestaries throughout the area, as well as a donation from a court library of the Electors Palatine. Currently, the library has over 10 million holdings. Much of the building was burned or bombed during WWII, so most of what we saw was a reconstruction of the original. We had the amazing opportunity to see what remains of a collection of books that were salvaged from the Nazi book burnings during WWII; an incredible commentary on censorship. One thing that struck me while visiting the library was the vast cultural difference between this European setting and our libraries at home in terms of rules and regulations. There are several rooms in which personal laptops are not allowed and the reading rooms, even one with seats for over 550 people, is absolutely silent. The area for the reference librarians is in a more separate area with half walls, so that patrons can ask their questions without having to feel rushed by other patrons in line behind them. Unlike many of our libraries, this library has a cafeteria in the basement and a beer garden in the courtyard, a true reflection of how much this culture values time outside and good food. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the library, so I've included a link to their website here: http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/The-library-in-brief.263+M57d0acf4f16.0.html. The building is beautiful and the catalog is incredible! You can also find a chronology of the library through the homepage.

Our tour of the library was over around 4:00, so I decided to come home, since I still had my laptop and it was getting heavy. So, I came home and changed clothes and spent the evening working on my paper and blog postings. After listening to a bit of NPR and Radiolab podcasts, I'll turn in for the night.

Another Beautiful Day

When I got up yesterday, it was beautiful once again, so after my shower, I put on a brown skirt with a green shirt. I thought I might be able to wear my sandals, but they just weren't as comfortable as my tennis shoes, so I put those on instead. I had my breakfast of toast and jam, but it wasn't enough to fill me up, so I stopped at the discount bakery when I got to Pasing. I found a yummy apple pastry that was made of puffed pastry and brushed with a glaze and nuts for .95 E. I arrived at the library a few minutes early, so I had time to enjoy the beautiful morning under the shade of the linden tree.

I forgot to mention in an earlier post the solar panels we saw on the way back from Salzburg. There were whole neighborhoods that had at least a portion of each roof covered in the panels. Ula, the landlady for Tiffany and Shea, said that by the end of next year, it is required for all homeowners in Bavaria to have solar panels, triple paned windows, and make an effort to reduce water usage. The government is not putting forth any money to fund this initiative, so I don't know what those individuals who cannot afford to make these changes will do. I have not yet done any research on my own on this current event topic, but will try to do so and share with you what I learn.

I spent the morning yesterday working on the science portion of my unit, weaving some of the Holocaust history into the sixth grade study of population dynamics. I also created a reflection and comparison activity where students could compare the science used during the Holocaust with some events today, as well as creating a forum for them to share their thoughts regarding the ethics of the history versus today's events. After spending a few hours working on that, it was time for lunch.

We ate outside again and enjoyed the views of the pond and the ducks. Junko joined us for lunch, so we had the chance to discuss some of the things she's written and hear a bit about her life story. Lunch was a lovely roasted chicken with a very yummy sauce and potato salad. Colleen didn't want any of her potato salad, so I had two portions. After lunch, we all went back to work in the library for the afternoon. I managed to finalize my science unit enough so that I only need to create a few rubrics for some of the activities.

After leaving the library, I stopped by the discount bakery again in Pasing to grab a snack, a pretzel. (I'll try to insert a picture of the bakery tomorrow since I've written so much about it.) I managed to catch the train with a minute to spare and rode back to Grafelfing. On my way back to the house, I stopped by the grocery store and picked up some crackers, cheese, bananas, and Nutella. (I have been getting a little tired of the jam with the toast in the morning and thought this would be a good alternative... and I can take home the leftovers.) Just after arriving home and greeting Alegra and the cat, the afternoon showers came, so I was glad that I'd come home when I did. After a light snack of cheese and a pretzel, I worked on my paper a bit more, listened to a few Radiolab podcasts (a production out of NYC through NPR), and called it a night at 11:15. All in all, a very nice day.

A lesson in socialist history

Yesterday, I got up early, took my shower, and put on a denim skirt and a polo shirt. It was warm and I was ready to greet the day! I had my breakfast of toast with raspberry jam and visited with Petra about our trip to Salzburg on our way in to town. I arrived at the library a bit early and had a chance to visit with Ursula a bit. She shared with me the success of their children’s festival on Sunday, despite the rain, and said that they had almost 400 people in attendance. I’m hoping to get some pictures from the staff to share. (Pictured here is Johahn; I mention him later in the post.)

I spent the morning working on my paper, taking occasional breaks to check email and look up websites and other resources to add to my bibliography. I managed to get the bulk of the social studies unit written into my paper before lunch. For lunch yesterday, we had fish with a creamy mustardy dill sauce served with mashed potatoes. It was pretty enough that we could sit outside, so we enjoyed the weather and the ducks on the water. Amanda got an iced coffee for dessert, that was served with fresh whipped cream, which she shared with me… delicious! After lunch, we went back to work.

For the rest of the afternoon, I worked on an outline for the science unit and finished up the social studies portion of my unit. When we finished our work, we had a short meeting about some upcoming events, and then a few of us went to Pasing to do a little shopping and pick up a snack. We left Pasing around 5:00 and took the S-bahn and the U-bahn to go to Odienzplatz, where we were meeting Johahn, who had offered to give us a tour of some of the Socialist Party historical sites.

We met Johahan at the yellow church just outside the U-bahn exit and visited for a few minutes while we waited for the others to join us. Carolina, the editor studying at the library from Columbia, and Junko, the professor from Chicago, both joined us for this excursion, so it was nice to visit with them some too. What struck me the most about Johahn’s tour was the German perspective he presented of the period leading up to the war and the war itself. He gave us some prehistory on the rise of the party and the political climate that enabled this party to come to power. The building pictured here is in the center of the old part of the city of Munich and was the area of the city where the party first met and where the Nazi flag was flown in the middle of the square in front of this building. After the party’s rise to power, anyone who passed this place was required to salute the flag. As a form of passive resistance, there was a path behind the building where people chose to walk who did not want to salute the flag. The path is marked today only by the presence of the copper cobble stones, which stay shiny whenever someone walks over them. As an aside, he said that his mother, who was very young during this time, actually liked what the party did for the young people, because they organized camps and swimming classes and the like for children. The goal of the party was to provide these kinds of programs for kids so that they would have them hooked from a young age, so that when they were old enough to “think for themselves” they would not have cause to question the actions of the party.

Johahn then took us to a memorial site for the White Rose resistance group, which began on the campus of the university with a group of students and professors. This memorial site is outside of one of the old buildings that was bombed, which you can see here. We also saw a piece of the Berlin wall, which is outside the US Consulate in Munich. The question that Johahn posed to us at the end of the tour, after visiting a few other sites, was the question that the German people ask themselves now, which is what would we have done in the same situation? I don’t know that I can answer that question, given the times and the stress of the economy prior to WWII. I’d like to think that I’d be a part of some form of resistance, but it’s so difficult to say that not living during those times. But then we can look around us today; around the world, there are similar situations, and so often, we are content to turn our heads and look the other way. So, I’m beginning to ask myself, what can I do with a group of students to bring this question to the forefront and perhaps give them a forum to do something.

After leaving our tour with Johahn, I went back home, hoping that I could pick up a bratwurst or something for dinner. I got back to Grafelfing at 8:30, only to realize that all of the grocery stores and cafes closed at 8:00. Only the restaurants were open, but I didn’t want to wait that long, so I ended up eating a few cookies and some bread with jam for dinner. After dinner, I did a bit of research online, and then went to bed.

Our Last Day in Salzburg

Yesterday we got up around 7:00 and got ready and packed up our things. After checking our items at the desk, since we were checking out before we were leaving Salzburg, we went around the corner to a little bakery and Mary picked up my breakfast, since I had paid for her water the night before. So, I chose a yummy apricot pastry and Mary picked a chocolate cinnamon roll. We went back to the hotel lounge and had some complimentary espresso and juice to go with our breakfast. Mary and I ended up splitting the pastries so that we could each have a bit of both.

After breakfast, the whole group went to Hellbrun Castle, just outside the city of Salzburg. We took a bus to get there and had enough time before the tour started to explore a bit of the grounds. Our tour included many outdoor statues, fountains, and entertaining areas. Apparently the archbishop who created the castle was a bit of a trickster, so he installed trick fountains in several seats, along walkways, and in the corners of some outdoor buildings. The thing that amazed me most was the mosaic work on many paths and floors outside that used river stones. The castle interior was also quite beautiful, and had several interesting paintings. One of the things that I learned while listening to the audio guide in the castle was that during the time that the archbishop was ruling in this area of Austria, it was common practice to bring rare specimens of living things to the residence and surrounding ground. As a result, there were several exotic birds, plants, and mammals, especially deer-like ones, living on the grounds. Several of the paintings in the castle were of some of these creatures. This raised for the question of what may have happened to the grounds when these were introduced. For example, did it introduce new invasive species?

After leaving the castle, Dr. Veltze invited Lyme and me to join her for lunch at a typical Austrian café along the river. She had been given her breakfast for both days free, since her TV did not work, so she offered to pay for our lunch with that money. Lyme and I took her up on the gracious offer and had a wonderful lunch and a nice time to get to know Dr. Veltze better. Lyme ordered breakfast food, eggs, toast, yogurt, and fruit, and I ordered a mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil. Dr. Veltze ordered a very fancy version of mac and cheese that was seasoned with some sage, which she let us both sample. After a wonderful cup of coffee, Lyme and I left and went to find our way to the fortress.

We wandered our way through the streets, grateful for the beautiful weather, and Lyme picked up some wonderfully illustrated children’s books. After leaving the bookstore, we found some street artists, so I found a piece that I purchased for 10 E that is quite lovely. After leaving the street artist, we stumbled upon a large chess board marked off in the square and a few people playing with these almost two feet high pieces. As we stood there taking pictures, we heard a marching band coming, so we stayed to watch the Austrian band play. When we finally left the square, we wandered toward the fortress, taking in the views along the way. The trail was very steep, but the views were worth it. When we got to the gate, we turned around and headed back into town in search of a WC (restroom). Once we found one, we both realized that we didn’t have any change between us, since we’d spent it on the bus earlier in the day, so we couldn’t use the WC. So, we headed back to the hotel to use the one in the lobby there. It was fun getting to know Lyme better in our ramblings around Salzburg, learning her story and what she enjoys. It's been nice to be able to bounce from person to person throughout this trip to get to know each person individually.

When we got back to the hotel, we met a few others and decided to go grab a bite to eat with them. Mary and Amanda split a wonderful cheeseburger and fries at the river café they found, while Matt ordered fried chicken and potato salad. Lyme just ordered a drink. I have learned with this group that it’s better just to be on “clean up duty” if you’re not that hungry, so Lyme and I enjoyed some fries, olives, potato salad, and fried chicken when the others were all finished. Then we all went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and went to the train station to go back to Munich. When we got to our platform at the station, we ran into a group of high school students who were from the Charlotte area, so we visited with a few of them. We boarded the train at 5:45 and were back in Munich by 8:30. I arrived back at the house at 9:30, after a wonderful walk home enjoying the sunset. After chatting a bit with Benny and unpacking, I fell into bed at 11:15 for a restful night’s sleep. Overall, Salzburg was wonderful and I’d go back again if I had the chance.

Day Two in Salzburg

Yesterday, I woke up around 7:00, took a shower, and got dressed in jeans, a sleeveless shirt, tennis shoes, and a raincoat. Yet another rainy day greeted us, but we’ve been told that that is typical Austrian weather, so I suppose we’re experiencing Salzburg as the locals do. After getting ready, Mary and I headed downstairs for our breakfast buffet. Although it cost 13 E, we got our fill of eggs, melted cheese on tomato slices, a variety of bakery breads and pastries, various hams and salami, as well as fruit and yogurt. There were several types of spreads to go with the bread and fruit, including Nutella (which was fantastic on pear slices and as a substitute for peanut butter on a piece of toast with orange marmalade). There was also champagne and juice, of which I didn’t partake this morning, but Dr. Veltze said that once she had poured what she thought was sparkling white grape juice, she couldn't let it go to waste! I had several small cups of coffee and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of cheeses as well. I would say that I certainly got my money’s worth on that breakfast!

After breakfast, we headed out to Mozart’s residence and birthplace, which were just a few blocks from the hotel. The first museum was quite well done, with an audio guide and several markers throughout each room explaining the items. We were not allowed to take photographs here, so I’ve included the link here for you to peruse.





http://www.mozarteum.at/02_Museen/02_Museen_WohnHaus.asp?SID=168244122101443. (You may need to switch it to English using the links at the top, or you can try your hand at deciphering the German if you'd prefer. There is more text here than pictures, but it does have some more detail about the Mozart and Hayden exhibit that was housed at the Residence.) It was rather interesting to learn that although Mozart had a rather successful career, all of the family’s furnishings, etc. were sold at an estate sale after his death. This museum housed many reproductions of instruments that Mozart would have played, and the audio guide had samples of some of his works being played on the instruments. The second museum, housed in a small apartment, was not as well done, but still interesting. There were items we wish had been explained more, such as the room that had a relief map of Salzburg on the ceiling and all of the pictures were hung upside down. There was another room with German and Italian words written around the room on the wall paper, but there was no explanation as to what was said or why this room was decorated in such a way. We did get to see the family kitchen, a family tree of the Mozart family, and some of Mozart’s personal effects that individuals had donated to the museum. Overall, this to these museums was worth the 8 euros that it cost, especially since we were given a student discount off the original 10 E price.

From there, we went to a few souvenir shops, where I picked up a tea towel to take home and the others picked up a few items. After that, we went to the craft fair held along the street by the river that we had seen the night before. Although I did not find any original drawings, prints, watercolors, etc., I did find some handmade jewelry that I purchased, and Mary picked up a few things for friends and relatives. At this point, we were all so completely soaked through (even with our umbrellas and raincoats), that we decided to come back to the hotel to dry off. So, we took a few hours to rest and dried our socks and pants with the hairdryer.

After hanging out and drying off, we got ready for our Mozart Dinner Concert. Most of the girls wore cute black dresses, I wore my brown flowered dress, and Mary had a very nice blue dress to wear. Lyme wore a blue button down shirt with some sparkly cuff links and nicely pressed black pants. We took a taxi to the dinner concert, which was held in St. Peters Abby at the restaurant called the Stiffskeller. The concert began promptly at 8:00, with the orchestra dressed in period costumes. After the opening piece, the opera singers came out a performed a few pieces from Don Giovanni. Then we had a lovely appetizer of a cream based soup with a dumpling in it, seasoned with sage and lemon. After the first course, we heard a few selections from Le nozze di Figaro, which were beautifully performed. The main course was served after these selections, and consisted of a roasted capon breast, steamed veggies, and a wonderful sauce seasoned with sage and truffles. A tad on the salty side, it was wonderfully filling. Die Zauberflote was the next piece performed. This popular opera from Mozart combines farce and drama into an exciting piece. Dessert was a fantastic finish to this unique experience, consisting of a honey flavored frozen dessert on a graham cracker-like crust, served with two fruit sauces. I’ve included a picture of the dessert here (so that you can adequately picture this luscious thing).

We left the concert a little after 11:00 and walked back to the hotel, enjoying the sights of Salzburg at night, with the lights along the river. I was very glad to have my new shoes, which kept my feet nice and dry on this walk and were comfortable enough to walk back to the hotel. When we finally arrived back at the hotel, I made myself a cup of hot peppermint tea in the lounge and then headed up to bed. It was after midnight when I finally fell into bed, after an enjoyable, but exhausting day.

First Day in Salzburg

Yesterday was we began our trip to Salzburg. I got up early, took a shower, finished my last minute packing, and walked to the s-bahn. I just barely missed the 7:10 train, but still met the group on time by catching the 7:30 line. When I arrived at the Hoptbahnhof station, I picked up a pastry for breakfast and we were off on our two hour ride to Salzburg, Austria. The sights were beautiful as we rode across the countryside and the mountains came into view through the mist. There were so many church steeples and Bavarian style homes with steep roofs covered in red tile.

When we arrived at the Salzburg station, we picked up some information at the information desk (maps, guide books, etc.) and walked to our hotel. Our hotel is a very old hotel with smaller rooms, but very high ceilings. Here's a link if you want to see more pictures of the hotel: http://www.austrotel.at/en/hotel_salzburg.html. We weren’t able to check into our rooms until 2:00, so we left our things behind the desk and found a place for lunch, another tasty little Italian place. I had a margherita pizza (cheese and sauce), and shared bits of the others’ pasta dishes. After lunch, a group went to do the Sound of Music tour, but I opted to stay around town and explore the shops and old buildings. I found this cute church with nice architecture, so I’ve included some of those pictures here.

When the group returned from the Sound of Music tour, a few of us went to a rooftop café for a bite of dinner around 8:00 at another hotel. The views were spectacular since it was right next to the river and you could see the bridge that’s featured in The Sound of Music. The food service left a little to be desired, as they seemed to be out of quite a few items on the menu, but the views made up for it. After leaving here, we found a street music festival and an art fair that was packing up for the day, but we decided to come back to the art show today. After a leisurely walk along the river and pushing our way through the crowds at the music festival, we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Overall, a nice beginning to our jaunt in Salzburg!