Monday and Tuesday
Geisa and Point Alpha
Our first morning in Geisa consisted of breakfast in opt he gathering room of the Slosse. Traditional breakfast we have been accustomed to. We then boarded a microbus to Point Alpha less than five minutes from Geisa. There was a building with what was the former East-West border next to it and an East German border access road crossing by it. This was where the Most western point of East Germany was up to 25 years ago. At this location there was an East German observation tower and U.S. Army camp Point Alpha. Sebastian was our guide on Monday and Tuesday morning and he works for Point Alpha Akademie. In the main building of the location there was an exhibit on all perspectives of the Cold War. My back was hurting here because of the long time standing listening to the explanations to the exhibit. We ventured up along the borders for several hundred meters where former border fences were reconstructed for the site. There was also the GDR observation tower that we had no access to due to be sold off to a cell phone company. However, the former U.S camp was open and we went up the tower and there was. An exhibit on the a Cold War and the camp in the old barracks. We had lunch in the old mess hall that had been converted in pot a snack bar. The pork was terrific there.
In the afternoon we returned to the schloss for speakers. The first speaker was a witness from West Germany talking about his experiences. It was difficult for me to follow due to soft voices from the speaker and the interpreter. So I didn't get. Much from that. Following him, we had a speaker who is a social studies teacher at a Gymnasium. She was raised and trained at a university in the East. She talked about how she transitioned teaching from the East to a unified Germany.
We had meat, cheese, soup, and bread in the evening. The tomato soup was superb! A few of us played ultimate frisbee at that. I concluded that my age and playing right after eating is not a good combination to playing ultimate frisbee! We then walked to a Biergarten for refreshments and went back to the schloss to watch World Cup soccer between Germany and Algeria. I stayed up after regulation to watch Germany score a goal and then went to sleep.
On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast in the gathering room again, albeit with less fruits and vegetables. We took our luggage to the conference room. The first guest in the morning was a witness who was from East Germany talking about her experiences. To sum things up, she didn't want anything to do with the GDR ever again!
For lunch we went to the fifth oldest bakery in Germany that first opened in the early 1500s. We had to put on gowns and hairnets to enter the baking area. The Baker Meister showed us the process of baking bread. Following her present action and questions and answers, we went to the courtyard to have lunch of a simple meat and cheese sandwich and a couple of desserts. We then went to the schlosse to leave. First we had a parting gift of a beer stein. Hopefully it won't break by the time I get back to the states! Then we left on a bus to head to Fulda.
We arrive into Fulda by the largest bus we've had so far on the tour. We parked in front of the Dom. Just what we needed, another church! Actually this cathedral was built in the Baroque style over a period of eight years in the 1700s. We started our city tour here. This was built over the site of two previous churches. This was probably the prettiest of all the churches we have seen so far. It was so white and bright on the inside. There are chapels as you enter the right and left. There a many details through the building. There is a chapel in the back for marriages and baptisms and St. Boniface is buried in a crypt in the back of the church. Then we toured through the cathedral gardens and headed into the city center. The next location we headed to was one of ten towers that surrounded the city, only four still exist. The story behind this was that there was a witch hunt in a three year period in the he Middle Ages where 300 women were executed in a city of 4,000 people. We headed into the city center and saw what seems to be the standard German town that we have learned to love. We returned to the bus and travelled to the train station to take a train to Berlin. The train is a high speed train taking about three hours.
Geisa and Point Alpha
Our first morning in Geisa consisted of breakfast in opt he gathering room of the Slosse. Traditional breakfast we have been accustomed to. We then boarded a microbus to Point Alpha less than five minutes from Geisa. There was a building with what was the former East-West border next to it and an East German border access road crossing by it. This was where the Most western point of East Germany was up to 25 years ago. At this location there was an East German observation tower and U.S. Army camp Point Alpha. Sebastian was our guide on Monday and Tuesday morning and he works for Point Alpha Akademie. In the main building of the location there was an exhibit on all perspectives of the Cold War. My back was hurting here because of the long time standing listening to the explanations to the exhibit. We ventured up along the borders for several hundred meters where former border fences were reconstructed for the site. There was also the GDR observation tower that we had no access to due to be sold off to a cell phone company. However, the former U.S camp was open and we went up the tower and there was. An exhibit on the a Cold War and the camp in the old barracks. We had lunch in the old mess hall that had been converted in pot a snack bar. The pork was terrific there.
In the afternoon we returned to the schloss for speakers. The first speaker was a witness from West Germany talking about his experiences. It was difficult for me to follow due to soft voices from the speaker and the interpreter. So I didn't get. Much from that. Following him, we had a speaker who is a social studies teacher at a Gymnasium. She was raised and trained at a university in the East. She talked about how she transitioned teaching from the East to a unified Germany.
We had meat, cheese, soup, and bread in the evening. The tomato soup was superb! A few of us played ultimate frisbee at that. I concluded that my age and playing right after eating is not a good combination to playing ultimate frisbee! We then walked to a Biergarten for refreshments and went back to the schloss to watch World Cup soccer between Germany and Algeria. I stayed up after regulation to watch Germany score a goal and then went to sleep.
On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast in the gathering room again, albeit with less fruits and vegetables. We took our luggage to the conference room. The first guest in the morning was a witness who was from East Germany talking about her experiences. To sum things up, she didn't want anything to do with the GDR ever again!
For lunch we went to the fifth oldest bakery in Germany that first opened in the early 1500s. We had to put on gowns and hairnets to enter the baking area. The Baker Meister showed us the process of baking bread. Following her present action and questions and answers, we went to the courtyard to have lunch of a simple meat and cheese sandwich and a couple of desserts. We then went to the schlosse to leave. First we had a parting gift of a beer stein. Hopefully it won't break by the time I get back to the states! Then we left on a bus to head to Fulda.
We arrive into Fulda by the largest bus we've had so far on the tour. We parked in front of the Dom. Just what we needed, another church! Actually this cathedral was built in the Baroque style over a period of eight years in the 1700s. We started our city tour here. This was built over the site of two previous churches. This was probably the prettiest of all the churches we have seen so far. It was so white and bright on the inside. There are chapels as you enter the right and left. There a many details through the building. There is a chapel in the back for marriages and baptisms and St. Boniface is buried in a crypt in the back of the church. Then we toured through the cathedral gardens and headed into the city center. The next location we headed to was one of ten towers that surrounded the city, only four still exist. The story behind this was that there was a witch hunt in a three year period in the he Middle Ages where 300 women were executed in a city of 4,000 people. We headed into the city center and saw what seems to be the standard German town that we have learned to love. We returned to the bus and travelled to the train station to take a train to Berlin. The train is a high speed train taking about three hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment