I realise that I’ve been a bad girl and have not updated since I got back from Germany. But, I still have a lot to say and I’ll try to remember as much as possible! Then I will try to get back onto updating on a regular basis.
Köln— the Furthest North I Got
I was told by many people that I needed to get up to Berlin and Hamburg, and as much as I wanted to, I just didn’t have the funds this time around. But, I did manage to get up to Köln (or Cologne, as most Americans know it) for a week where I got to experience the magic of Lindt chocolate, a BIG church, and behind the scenes primetime television.
Above all, it was a beautiful little city. It definitely felt small, though I have a feeling it’s bigger than Stuttgart.
It is the birthplace of scent for men— and you can even go visit the boutique that first made the stuff. That would’ve been a useless trip for me seeing that I have no sense of smell, but it’s an interesting piece of history… I would’ve thought that cologne was invented by the French! But no, it was the Germans that decided that men should be allowed to smell “pretty” too, so… surprise! View full article »
I feel like I’ve gotten to know the Southern region of Germany pretty well since I got here, and for the most part it’s a very beautiful and busy place. I think the weekend that we decided to drive around down there had about 5 random holidays lines up in a row that we didn’t know about, which might account for the busyness, but it was fun, so there.
We pretty much just hopped in a car and drove aimlessly around the region (although there was an overall destination in mind). We drove through Ulm, Ravensburg, Weingarten, Lake Constance, a bunch of random tiny towns that I can’t remember the names of, and ended up in Füssen for Neuschwanstein for the second time— except this time it was spring and not winter, so it was incredibly more colourful (and warm). We passed by many cows, dandelions, and the Alps were almost always in the picture dead ahead. Here are two of the highlights which I found the most interesting. View full article »
Of all the places that I’ve ever been to on a vacation, Egypt was the only one in which I felt like I wasn’t finished. I found myself wanting to stay longer and explore more, as if I hadn’t even scratched the surface. With most places, after about two or three days I start feeling like I’m ready to go back, but Egypt was just so different in every way possible, and that might be the reason why I genuinely didn’t want to leave. It was refreshing in a very surreal way.
Friday: The City of the Dead
The poverty in Cairo is overwhelming everywhere you go, but the greatest concentration of the poorest of the poor in the city live here, in what’s known as the City of the Dead.
The City of the Dead is a graveyard, filled with Islamic-style tombstones, tombs, and mausoleums. The area is noticeably shorter than the rest of the city partially because all the tombs are less than a storey high, and partially because the overall ground level of the city has risen considerably over the past 100 years. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to walk past a window, door, or archway that was half buried in the ground all over the city! It was just way worse here because it was even more unkempt than the rest of Cairo. View full article »
It’s hard to know where to start on my jam packed trip, so I think I’ll just go through the days as I went around the city. It starts actually before I even left for Cairo…
The Random Scarab Appearance
A long time ago I got one of those little stone scarabs that they make in Egypt that look like the ancient ones. Since then, I’ve turned it into a hemp choker which I actually wear more than any of my other pieces of jewelery— I think it’s always been my favourite. In any case, on Monday I was walking along the student living center here in Stuttgart with my friend when she stopped to look at something hidden in the hole of a buried sidewalk cinder block. She poked it around with her foot as I turned to look at her, quizzically. “What did you find?”
“Isn’t this one of your bug things?”
“What?” I have a couple of “bug things” ranging from jewelery with fake (and real) bugs to a very large dragonfly tattoo on my back, so that was a pretty vague question. “What do you mean?”
“You know.. you have one on that necklace you always wear! That is a bug, isn’t it?”
“You mean a scarab??” View full article »
Spring is here, and my last Ladybug army has for the most part disappeared… I’m assuming they’ve either all died or figured out that my windows are open because it’s actually nice out.
So, I’ve had a ladybug absence for about a month, which has been a little saddening. Thankfully iGoogle now has a gadget that lets virtual ladybugs crawl across your screen when you’re checking your email, so I’ve been able to have at least some kind of ladybug presence in the meantime (albeit a virtual presence… not quite the same).
That said, spring is here, and therefore I was not surprised to find this: View full article »
Above all, it was a beautiful little city. It definitely felt small, though I have a feeling it’s bigger than Stuttgart.
