Baden-Württemberg + Paris

Hi. So, I haven't updated in a while because I was mostly just doing school work on campus. Leaving campus to go to the grocery store was a rare and extremely exciting event... I didn't think my musings on whether to buy bio applesauce or to spring for the pear-apple mix would be that interesting. My trusty readership has asked me for updates and I finally went on a little trip, so here ya go:

Last weekend I met up with a friend from highschool in Baden-Baden, Germany. This old resort town is known for its hot mineral springs with healing powers. We hiked part of the Panoramweg up to some cool castle ruins then back down through the city where we tasted the hot springs. 68C and very salty. I didn't really have any aliments that needed healing, but I (surprisingly) did not feel sore the next day.

First time in Deutschland as pork eater. 

Sunday, we headed to Freiburg where we checked out the cathedral, the Schlossberg park and its Aussichtsturm, and an organic  brewery. One thing that I really enjoy about crazy views like the one from the tower is that you get an idea of the energy situation of the area. We could see wind turbines, solar panels, and a biogas storage bubble.

Get out your 3D goggles- this was taken with the 3D panoramic setting on my camera... I don't think it worked. 

Afterwards, I  headed to Stuttgart to catch the night train to Paris. I spent my layover watching the England-Italy game and the Italian's celebration afterward was quite impressive. Driving around, waving flags and honking for over an hour. I can't imagine what their celebration was like when they defeated Germany a few days later. My favorite participant was the guy who just drove his Ferrari around: not honking or flag waving.

An uncomfortable train ride later, I woke up in Paris -- 3 hours after I expected to arrive. (There was one routing option where I could have changed trains in Metz and arrived at 7:30, but for some reason I opted to just stay on the same train). I got some breakfast, journeyed to the domestic train station to stash my stuff, and set off on foot to explore. I got a little disoriented (there is the Arc de Triomph and a smaller model of it in some park and my phone sent me to the miniature) and walking took much longer than I expected. I ate a a fancyish picnic lunch and took care of some business at the Swedish embassy (they have surprisingly little security).

Strawberry, mint, pepper ice cream.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chasing down the actual Arc, but didn't want to wait in a two hour line for a free ticket (I'll book online before I go next time) and catching random glances of la Tour Eiffel. I also hit up a grocery store with an american section and scored some bagels and soft baked cookies.

 

The trip reminded me just how awesome Germany is/can be (or maybe I was just glad to be outside of Nantes for a change). The jury is still out on Paris....

Just three weeks left in my semester and oh so much work left to be done. I'm giving a poster presentation on our semester-long project on Monday: "Analysis of a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill in Jalisco,

Mexico and Mitigation Strategies." (Yes, the title is a bit grammatically unsound, but our tutor insisted). I also need to arrange for my travel back to the US and around Europe for the summer. 

A+, cj

(that's short for à plus tard -- until later)