One word seems to be a favorite among many of our members by this point on the trip: Gelato!!
With the weather warming up and staying warm, we are all trying to find ways to stay cool. No one seems to understand why we want to drink just normal tap water all the time. It is often difficult to find a place that sells water (especially if you want it without gas! And when you think about how that sounds, why WOULD you want water with gas?) So, Gelato has become a new favorite way to beat the heat. My personal favorite is the Jogurt Kircharmarena (or sour cherry arameto!) It is absolutley amaying, and I have tried nothing else!
Not much to report about Saturday night. Most people just took it pretty easy.
Sunday was completely a free day, which gave great opportunity for everyone to just do whatever they want. Some sleep in, some swam in the Neckar, some rented boats, some walked or hiked, some visited the Jewish district, and others just hung out in the courtyard outside our hostel. We all have enjoyed having breakfast provided for us at the hostel, and many have been packing lunches away with the extra food. This really helps to cut costs and stay energized. But we are making up for it now, because the hostel we are at now does not provide breakfast. Sunday night was just a great night. It was incredibly hot all day long and very sunny, but then in the middle of the night, we were all woken up by a tremendous strom! I frantically dove out of a deep sleep to the window sill to fetch our laundry that we had hoped would be dry for the next day. The rain was pouring, and i dont think I have ever seen lightning like that before. It was very cool to watch. Storms come out of no where over here, and then before you know it, it is sunny and hot again like nothing ever happened!
Today (Monday) we said goodbye to Tübigen and drove to Freiburg. We stopped twice on the way, once at the Black Forest Castle (absolutely breathtaking view) and once at Lake Titisee (an obvious tourist trap). I had lunch on a nice terrace restaurant with Amanda, Julie, Andrew, and Alyssa. Sometimes nothing sounds better than a nice refreshing salad for lunch! However, BEWARE THE SALADS!!!! haha! Poor Amanda Lovin has had the worst luck with ''salads'' on this trip. In Tübigen she ordered something that roughly translated to ''meat salad'' which doesnt sound too bad at first, but this particular salad had no salad at all, and was actually all meat! To be exact, the ''salad'' was nothing more than a pale pink mound of thin rectangular strips of unidentifiable processed meat product! Yum! And today at lunch, she and Julie decided to share another salad, and this time, the salad was more of a pinkish slab of meat paste with some lard around the outside, a hard black center of something, and it was drenched in some sort of jello\apple\wasabe peas goop. Not too sure... but it was horrible to say the least! haha! Just when you thought it was safe to order a salad.
Back on the bus, it was just a short drive into Freiburg. Again, I was instantly in love with this city. We are staying at the Black Forest Hostel, which closely resembles a mix between downtown Portland and Interzone coffee. (a strange breed of hippy\funky\backpacky atmosphere, but overall, very cool!) We arrived to the city right in time for another freak storm that came out of no where, drentched us, and disappeared just as quickly. We had a free eveing to explore. The whole city is just winding streets of cobblestone and cute storybook houses and buildings on every side, not to mention the most beautiful hills and surroundings. David and Josh Randall and I hiked up this mountain right behind our hostel tonight and found a spiral tower that took you to the highest point in Freiburg. It was definitely worth the pain to climb all those stairs, because at the top we had a completely open 360 degree view of the whole city. Breathtaking... You'd have to see it to beleive it...
We were told by some locals that Monday nights are not the best night to hit the Discoteks (dance clubs) but that Tuesdays are special nights just for the University students, so many of us our excited to go hit that scene tomorrow night if time allows. Tomorrow we are going into Strasbourg, France, for wine tasting and dinner, and I think everyone is very exicted. Then we pick up the pace again and have 4 performances over our last 4 days. Hard to beleive that this part of our tour is quickly coming to an end.
Until next time, thanks for reading!
Brice
Well, our musical adventure has come to an end and at least some of us are back safe at home. More than half the choir elected for extended stay in Europe and are now fanning out throughout the EU for their own private travel (Larkin, say Hi to the Pope for me). Travel home was uneventful and comfortable, with the same bad food we had on the way (Lufthaza! What has happened to your food?!?) and similar fare in movies (steady diet of weeper relationship films). We were forced to leave Rebecca behind for her own adventure, but that is another story entirely!
Nicki at the Ludwigsburg Castle.
John Kluttz cheering for Deutschland!
Man the cannon!
