Rhineland State Trip!

Hallo! 

We just got back from a weekend in Rhineland and Saxony on our class trips, and it was quite the adventure! It felt odd at first only traveling with three compared to our whole group of eleven. We went along with David on his trip to Magdeberg and Halle, and he accompanied us to Mainz and Koblenz. We left very early on Friday morning and arrived in Mainz by 10 a.m. The city was very quaint with an urban twist. There was a large farmers market in the center of the square and everything was bursting with color and spirit. It had a small town feel with the closeness of the community. While we were there we visited Johannes Gutenbergs museum- he is their hometown hero! We also visited the second oldest church in Germany! It was quite a site- so huge and beautiful with a gorgeous courtyard and several different displays in the church- including an elaborate nativity scene. Next, we arrived in Koblenz that same afternoon as it was only 50 minutes on the train. The train ride alone was worth the trip- it overlooked the Rhine River and met a very nice man who helped us with our German Vocab! He told us other places we should get to while we're in Germany as well. While in Koblenz we walked around the town, for a very long time, we actually got lost! However, it gave us the opportunity to walk along the River and finally end up at Deutches Eck. It means the German corner and it marks the intersection of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. We climbed up on an enormous monument of Emperor Wilhelm I who ruled in Koblenz in the 19th century. This allowed us a breathtaking view of the Rivers and the surrounding scenery. We headed back that night and stayed in the Hilton at Mainz- we were lucky enough to find a steal as it was the same price as a youth hostel but with an amazing breakfast and we had forgotten how nice it is to be able to watch tv at night! 

The next day we got up and headed to Halle. Our first impression of Halle was a bit skeptic. It looked like we were in the middle of somewhere we did not want to be! However, we started walking towards an information center and ended up walking into the center of the city named Marktplatz. We walked into a very lively place with music and lots of people walking around. If we had had more time I'm sure Anna and I would have shopped around in all of the different stores:) David had researched things to see and so we got to see a pretty good view of Halle in a few hours. We saw lots of churches- many of them where Martin Luther had preached at! Then we concluded with a stop at Handells House (a famous composer), but it was closed. Atleast we can now say that we have been there! We ended our trip with a nice meal at an Italian Cafe and topped the dinner off with a fabulous desert of tiramisu and ice cream!..We just can't get enough of German desserts:)

Our trip ended today after a trip to Magdeberg. It was very, very cold and it snowed over night! We did not realize before coming that almost everything is closed on Sundays so our tour consisted again of a lot of churches and outdoor walking. We felt that we had seen enough of the cold city and made our way back to warm Reutlingen early! We were reunited with Lauren and Andrea and it felt so nice to be back and share our stories! 

guten Nacht! (Good night- we're practicing for our first German test on Tuesday:)

Love you guys, 

Suzanne and Anna