hi all...since I have been real lazy i thought i would just "copy" my roommate's blog. So please if you would like to take a look at our apartment please go to www.ericalott.blogspot.com
Beijos
Friday, September 26, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
1 Interesting Day in Cologne/Koln
Today (saturday) we had the day off!! Aleluia!!! So, Erica and I decided that we had to take advantage of this miracle and go somewhere. The destination chosen was Cologne.
Here is a little history on this city (thanks to Wikipedia)
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC.
World War II
During World War II, Köln was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärische Bereich Befehl Hauptsitze) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was the Home Station for the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment.
Devastation of Cologne in 1945
Main article: Bombing of Cologne in World War II
In World War II, Cologne endured exactly 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and completely wiped out the center of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the site of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosive. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas. The same happened in many other German cities in the last two years of war. At the end of 1945, the population had already risen to about 500,000 again.
By that time, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 20,000 had been displaced. The synagogue, originally built between 1895 and 1899 by architects Wilhelm Schreiterer and Bernhard Below, was severely damaged during the pogrom of 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht) but ultimately destroyed by Allied bombing between 1943 and 1945. It was reconstructed in the 1950s. The Cologne synagogue was the stage of a historic event in 2005, when the German-born pope Benedict XVI was the second pope ever to visit a synagogue.
Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi (see also [1]). It is interesting to note that the residents of Cologne call the cathedral "the eternal construction site" (Dauerbaustelle). They predict that, by the time the renovation of the building has finished, the end of the world will be upon us!
Anyway, just wanted to educate a little!!aahahhhaa
Back to my interesting day...... The trip tp Cologne was 1.5 hours. We arrived around noon and decided that we wanted to grab something to eat. Erica's friend recommended that we have a Doner Kabob which is some sort of Turkish sandwhich. We parked the car which by the way was not easy but we managed. After that was accomplished we walked around a little looking for a place to have some Doner Kabobs. While walking Erica and I almost got killed by a granite slab that felt over from this building that was under contruction, 5 seconds earlier and I would not be here to write this blog!! Anyway, after this scare we finally got to eat the Doner Kabob which was great!!!
We ate and then decided to walk to the Cathedral. On our way to the Cathedral we had another scare.....Next to the church there were some sort of leftist and anti-islam people protesting about something... check this link http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3658793,00.html and then all of sudden The German Police/Swat team come over and some people started to scream Nazis Out!!!! Erica and I were freaking out. We also felt like we were back living back during the Nazi Regine. (see video)
The Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom) was magical and I have no words to decribe other than I was in owe with the magnitude of this church (proud to be a catholic by the way!!!). See video.
Due to difficulties caused by the Nazis and leftist and anti islam people we were unable to go to the Chocolate Museum!!! Which was probably a good thing since they give out free chocolate.
After, the cathedral we decided to take a visit to the place were Cologne No 4711 was created. This was a really cool thing because growing up my mom and grandparents used this perfurm and it was really nice to see how it all started since it brings back good childhood memories!!!! see pictures (this is for you mom)
Anyway, the day was great and we had a lot of fun!! Hope to see you all here soon.....
Here is a little history on this city (thanks to Wikipedia)
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC.
World War II
During World War II, Köln was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärische Bereich Befehl Hauptsitze) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was the Home Station for the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment.
Devastation of Cologne in 1945
Main article: Bombing of Cologne in World War II
In World War II, Cologne endured exactly 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and completely wiped out the center of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the site of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosive. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas. The same happened in many other German cities in the last two years of war. At the end of 1945, the population had already risen to about 500,000 again.
By that time, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 20,000 had been displaced. The synagogue, originally built between 1895 and 1899 by architects Wilhelm Schreiterer and Bernhard Below, was severely damaged during the pogrom of 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht) but ultimately destroyed by Allied bombing between 1943 and 1945. It was reconstructed in the 1950s. The Cologne synagogue was the stage of a historic event in 2005, when the German-born pope Benedict XVI was the second pope ever to visit a synagogue.
Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi (see also [1]). It is interesting to note that the residents of Cologne call the cathedral "the eternal construction site" (Dauerbaustelle). They predict that, by the time the renovation of the building has finished, the end of the world will be upon us!
Anyway, just wanted to educate a little!!aahahhhaa
Back to my interesting day...... The trip tp Cologne was 1.5 hours. We arrived around noon and decided that we wanted to grab something to eat. Erica's friend recommended that we have a Doner Kabob which is some sort of Turkish sandwhich. We parked the car which by the way was not easy but we managed. After that was accomplished we walked around a little looking for a place to have some Doner Kabobs. While walking Erica and I almost got killed by a granite slab that felt over from this building that was under contruction, 5 seconds earlier and I would not be here to write this blog!! Anyway, after this scare we finally got to eat the Doner Kabob which was great!!!
We ate and then decided to walk to the Cathedral. On our way to the Cathedral we had another scare.....Next to the church there were some sort of leftist and anti-islam people protesting about something... check this link http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3658793,00.html and then all of sudden The German Police/Swat team come over and some people started to scream Nazis Out!!!! Erica and I were freaking out. We also felt like we were back living back during the Nazi Regine. (see video)
The Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom) was magical and I have no words to decribe other than I was in owe with the magnitude of this church (proud to be a catholic by the way!!!). See video.
Due to difficulties caused by the Nazis and leftist and anti islam people we were unable to go to the Chocolate Museum!!! Which was probably a good thing since they give out free chocolate.
After, the cathedral we decided to take a visit to the place were Cologne No 4711 was created. This was a really cool thing because growing up my mom and grandparents used this perfurm and it was really nice to see how it all started since it brings back good childhood memories!!!! see pictures (this is for you mom)
Anyway, the day was great and we had a lot of fun!! Hope to see you all here soon.....
Monday, September 15, 2008
Relaxing afternoon
On this day we took the bus around the city of Dornbirn, Austria.
Dornbirn is the largest and busiest city in Vorarlberg. It is an important commercial center and shopping mecca. Dornbirn is located near the borders to Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein. It has a population of 43,583. The river Dornbirner Ach flows through the city and later into the Lake of Constance (Bodensee).
We walked along the lake Constance and I took these awesome pictures!!! The afternoon was great and realxing which we needed in order to be ready for what was to come!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Novica Rebelde
Today (sunday), we took out first trip and it was to Austria!!! Yupi!
We met at noon to take the bus to Austria. The bus ride was really long about 7 hours but it was a great time to get to know the teammates a little bit better and to see different things. First of all I must say that i was really impressed with the organization at the public bathrooms. It costs 50 cents to use it but it is money well spent. The toilet cleans itself automatically and it is very clean!
About 2 hours in our trip we made our first "pipi stop" and i decided to buy credit for my pre paid cell phone. Let me just say that it was a little bit of challenge but nothing like my good friend Bojana couldn't help me with. We then went back to the bus and I decided that i wanted to call Cleve to say how much I miss him! Well, the call was really short (about 40 seconds) and it costs me 2 euros!!! But it's ok i would spend much more to talk to him.
Now, that i was really happy that i talked to Cleve the bus ride was even better. I must say that the ride was long but Nature helped by keeping me busy with such an amazing scenery!!
We finally arrived in Dornbirn Austria at about 7:30 pm. We then had dinner and then a meeting. The day was long but definetly worth it!!! Tomorrow hard work starts at 7 am with a jog and then practice from 9-12. After that lunch and then practice again from 3-6pm. See pictures!!
Hope to see you all soon!!!
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