Going Medieval In Rothenberg (June 10th-11th)

Today ended my journey through Europe with Bethel Choir, and here begins my journey throughout Germany. I have returned to the motherland. Earlier, when I had first arrived in Germany I felt my Germanic blood welling up within me. I felt happier to be in Germany. The closer I got to my roots, the happier I had become. Today was a bittersweet day. I was sad to part with my dear friends from choir, but I was also excited to see more of the country that I had only seen little of.

The day began very chill. I had breakfast and packed up some final things in my bags. By late morning we loaded the buses and drove to the air port. From there we said goodbye to our guide Natalia and our bus drivers. We waited outside for a time and and went into get our tickets in small groups.  Getting our tickets took a really long time. They had very few people working, and the people that helped us were in a sour mood. Once we finally boarded the plane we flew to Frankfurt. Once we landed I said some goodbyes and parted ways. While the choir went through a passport check and to connect with their flight home, I went to baggage claim and waited for my bags. Once I got my bags I located my mother outside of baggage claim and we got into our luxury Skoda car. It was very spacious.

We began our journey heading towards the medieval walled city of Rothenberg. We struggled to find our hotel as we had not figured out how to use the navigation on our dash. Once we found the hotel, we were quite pleased with the accommodations. It was a small local hotel/bed and breakfast. It was a cozy room. We would be in that room/apartment for 2 nights. After we settled in we walked outside of the wall and went out to eat at a place just across the street. I ate this schweinhaxe, which was a fried pork knuckle. It was really good and really crispy.

Gastof Rodertor

When we walked back into town, my sister and I walked along the wall back to our hotel. We walked along some of the streets exploring a small part of the city. After a brief walk we went back to the hotel. I relaxed and journaled.

Rodertor - one of the gates into Rothenberg

Walking along the wall

I'm pretty sure I saw this as a postcard

View from the wall

The next day was going to be spent solely in Rothenberg. We had plans to go to Wurzburg and Nurenberg, but we realized that we would have very little time in Rothenberg because of driving. We began our day with a lovely breakfast made by the hotel owner. He makes the best hot chocolate that I have ever drank. Im pretty sure I drank an entire pot myself. We left the hotel and decided to walk the wall. We were hoping to get all the way around. I don't think we walked around the entire thing, but we did at least half of it.

Above and down the walkway

This went on for a long time

I would not mind having one of these leading up to my house (or castle)

Amphitheater - It would be pleasant to see a medieval play in this setting

Once we left the wall we began exploring the town. We ventured into a park area where we could see the other side of Rothenberg. It was a bit foggy having rained the night before but the view was pretty amazing. I took pictures like these throughout the day, in various lighting situations, and in various colors. 

My dad and I went into the Criminal Museum of Torture. Torture is not something that my mother likes. Being a medievalist, I would appreciate it. I thought it was funny that there were school groups that had come to the museum for a visit and the students were really excited. What 10-11 year old kid gets excited to see torture? My guess is that the spikes and other things like that look cool.

Iron Maiden 

The Spiked Chair - This was used primarily for threats. The sight of it alone elicited confessions. I mean, who would want to sit on this?

Spiked Wrist Cuffs - used for breaking wrists. Twist the screw and it gets tighter

Straw Wreath - was for dishonorable and immoral girls. Women who had to wear this wore it on their wedding day as they were guided through the black gate. These women were not allowed to get married in the church. They were either married outside of the church or in an inn. Not all things were meant to be painful.  

Shame Mask - people who wore this were guilty of  being a pig

Chastity Belt "It's an Everlast" (Robin Hood Men In Tights) - it looks really uncomfortable. It was meant to keep men out and women pure for their husbands while they were gone, although the men probably did not keep themselves from being with other women.

My sister and I walked around while my parents went to go take a nap at the hotel. In my opinion, the best times are when you are exploring and you find things that you did not know where there. If I stayed on the path without stepping off, I would have missed so many things.

lovely garden

If anyone cares at all for Christmas, they have probably heard the of Kathe Wohlfahrt. There are Kathe Wohlfahrt stores all across the world. Rothenberg is where it all began. Here, and in every other Kathe Wohlfahrt stores, Christmas is every day, every hour, and every minute of every year. Outside it was June, inside it was December.

My family has a painting of this same view in our basement

Later that evening my family and I went on the Night Watchmen Tour. This tour is done every night, every day of the year rain or shine. This tour is not done through the city, but rather a lone man. He has been doing this for many years. And let me tell you, this guy makes bank. He makes at least 8-12 euros per person. My tour had around 100 people in it. He said most nights and most groups were around that number. This would not be a bad gig for me.

The Night Watchman pretends that he is one of the 6 Night Watchmen of Rothenberg. Their job is to watch the streets after sun down and blow their horn if they see a fire. A fire is the worst fear for medieval people. Most towns were made of wood. Wood + Fire = Bad News. Anyway, he told us of the history of Rothenberg. He explained that through the Middle Ages Rothenberg was a gem of Europe. It was a major hub of activity. But come the 30 years war in the 1630's, Rothenberg (a protestant city) was besieged by the Catholic Johann Tserclaes who wanted to use Rothenberg to house his 40,000 men. Well the people of Rothenberg did not allow entrance. In a sad turn of events, a soldier walked into the gun powder tower along the wall with a torch, and blew up a section of the wall. Rothenberg then surrendered. The town was plundered, and throughout the rest of the war, Rothenberg let in whoever wanted to use it. Rothenberg thus was left empty and poor which allowed Rothenberg to preserve its 17th century state. This is the reason why Rothenberg is so well preserved. They simply lacked the money to modernize. I personally have never thought of this as a reason why something is preserved. I know that war can cause economic strife, but I never imagined that it would preserve a town for nearly 2 centuries. In fact, it was not until the 1920's and 30's that Rothenberg became the destination for tourists.

Later during WWII, Rothenberg was occupied by a small army of German soldiers. The US air force ordered a bombing of Rothenberg. The officer in charge of the raid would have preferred not to destroy the city. He knew of Rothenberg because his mother had been a tourist and loved the town. Basically, the man feared the wrath of his mother for having destroyed the town. Instead he offered the low ranking officer in charge of Rothenberg to leave and they would not be destroyed. The Germans flex and the US moved in and thus saving Rothenberg from destruction. They also managed to turn out all lights and thanks to some strange weather conditions, Rothenberg was saved from another bombing later in the way.

When the tour was at a close, we passed a pub called Hell. The Night Watchman told us of a story that if someone saw you stumbling around after dark (because you were drunk), they would yell "Go back to Hell." This did not reference Hell itself, but rather the pub. I'm not certain that this is true, but it surely is a good story.

The Berlin Experience (June 9th)

The last day of choir tour. Granted that we still had the next day flying home together, but this was our last day of tour  in my book. What a grand day it was. I liked Berlin far more than I thought I would. When we arrived in Berlin, the choir discovered that there was a big bike race throughout the city. As a result our buses could not pull right up to our hotel. So we had to walk several blocks with all of our bags to the hotel. Our hotel happened to be right next to the Hauptbanhof, the main train station in Berlin. The hotel was called the Meninger Hotel.

Walking to our hotel we saw the government building

The rooms were nothing super special. My room had 2 bunk beds, therefore I shared my room with my roommates Jeff, Corbin O, and Corbin M. However, since we had arrived before they could clean the rooms, as such we put all of our bags into people whose rooms had been cleaned. So that was a minor annoyance. Another interesting thing was that we were all forced to wear wristbands. That way the staff could tell that we were there. It made me feel like being in a hospital. In any case, we grouped together and went to lunch. Ben, Jay, and Myself tried to go a different direction than all of the other groups. We walked into a part of the city that did not really have anything of interest or of note. Most places were closed. The only thing that I found interesting was Humboldt University. It seemed much smaller than I thought. But it would be a place where I would considering going to school. However, as I would discover later, that was not the main building. It must have been subject specific for I saw the main building later on my tour of Berlin. Ben, Jay, and myself went into the Hauptbanhof. It was like a multi-level mall that happens to have trains. It was pretty intense. Any store that you could think of in both Germany and America was in this single location.

After lunch the choir returned to the Meninger Hotel to relocate our luggage to our proper rooms. At this time I contacted my contact in Berlin named Rick. Rick was one of my mother's high school friends who has lived in Germany for the last 30 years. Rick had agreed to show me around Berlin, so I took up offer. When he came to pick me up at the Meninger Hotel, I travelled by train and subway with Rick and his friend to the house of his friend where he was staying. After that he could show me around Berlin without carrying all of his bags.

When we started my tour of Berlin, Rick and I took the train into former East Berlin, because that is where all of the history is. When we got there we hopped onto a bus. Along the way he pointed out landmarks to me. We passed embassy after embassy. Some looked really cool and others did not. Russia's looked like how you would think it should...concrete blocks. Very austere. We got off the bus sooner than anticipated because I wanted to jump off and see Humboldt University. In the square was this glass window looking down into the ground. Inside were empty bookshelves. This was a memorial to the knowledge that was lost during the Nazi book burnings that took place at that location. Also in the square was this really neat church. We went inside, but there was a service going on, therefore I refrained from taking pictures.

Humboldt University

Humboldt University

Humboldt University

From Humboldt we simply walked. I followed Rick's directions since I had no clue where I was going. This memorial was the Neue Wache. After German Reunification, this building was rededicated to to the victims of fascissm and militarism. 

As we walked more, we walked across a bridge to museum island. Museum island is home to the Altes Museum, Bode Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, and the Pergamon Museum. If I would have had more time in Berlin, I would have spent a day or two going to these museums. The positive side of not going into the museums this time around is that I can spend much more time when I come back to Berlin and Germany.

Berlin Cathedral

Altes Museum

Berlin Cathedral

Somewhat close to museum island where these next set of pictures.

Neptune

The Neptune Fountain

On our way towards the Brandenburg Gate, I made sure to see some sections of the Berlin Wall. I did not see the intact parts of the wall but the section I did see was a little art gallery. 

Our second to last stop was Checkpoint Charlie. It took me a while to get a picture without another person posing in my picture. First there was this family who took way too many pictures, then they just stood in front of it, although it was clear that I was waiting for them to move. I'm sure they were American's. The way they dressed and talked (loudly I might add) made them definitive Americans. But I managed to get the picture.

Check Point Charlie

My last stop was the Brandenburg Gate. I could not let myself leave Berlin without seeing this landmark.

I was getting tired of walking, and I was a little damp from the rain. I had not been wearing my rain jacket as it was very warm. However Rick had two umbrellas. So I stayed dry for the most part. I was mostly cold from wearing shorts and sandals, causing my legs to be cold. We then took the train back to the Hauptbanhof. Instead of getting off there, we continued onto what was West Berlin. Rick took me out to dinner at a place called Dieners. It was a former Tattersall, which was a place where people could go to ride horses. Rick told me that he is very fond of this place. Every time he comes to Berlin, he has to come to Dieners. Also, it was the place where movie stars and other notable figures have eaten while in Berlin. Rick made sure that I would have an authentic Berlin eating experience. He started me off with Berliner Weisse. It is a Berlin produced beer with either Raspberry or Woodruff syrup. I stayed primarily with the Woodruff.

Woodruff Berliner Weisse

Berliner Weisse

Rick ordered a simple appetizer, but he did not tell me what it was. The appetizer consisted of two pieces of rye bread, with a thick butter type thing, and onions. Rick spread the spread onto the bread and then mixed in the onions. I ate it and I liked it. But it was definitely not butter. It was thicker and greasier. After I was done, Rick told me that it was made from goose fat. It was basically lard. He said it is really bad for you if you eat it all the time, which is why he only gets it when he is at Dieners.

For dinner I ate kasespatzle (cheese spatzle). It was the German version of macaroni and cheese, but I like it so much more. We talked about what he has done with his life and I shared with him my plans for graduate school in Germany. It was a lovely conversation.

Afterwards dinner, I realized that it was close to 11 pm. I was actually tired. I thought that I was time I go back to my hotel. Before we left we tried to find a place for ice cream, but we didn't find any that were open. We took the train back to the Hauptbanhof and he made sure that I got back to the hotel fine before returning to his accommodation.  Most of the choir had returned by then, but some where still experiencing Berlin's nightlife. I went up to my room and packed my bags for the flight the following day. I did not want to be caught with fluids where they are not supposed to be.

Here ends my final Bethel Choir Tour. It was a great time indeed. This experience will be something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. So here ends one trip while another one begins.

Gniezno Take II (June 8th)

Allow to preface this post with an explanation of how the last few days of our tour changed. Originally the choir was planned to arrive in Prague today. We were supposed to have a full day in Prague, a concert, and a cruise. However, due to excessive rain Prague was flooded and the choir was advised not to go into Prague. Instead of going to Prague, the choir was going to spend a day in Berlin. This was better for one main reason...Bethel Choir was always late to things. If the choir went to Prague, then the day of our flight we would have to drive 4-hours to Berlin, in rush hour I might add, take a plane to Frankfurt and fly home. If we would have attempted this drive, we probably would have missed our flights. So spending the day in Berlin was a smart choice. As a result the choir would return to Gniezno for a free day then drive to Berlin the following day.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Gniezno. We had a free day to do whatever...explore, shop, and just relax. When we arrived, we ate lunch at the other Pietrak hotel that was down the street from our previous hotel. The choir was split between the two hotels. In the courtyard behind the hotel there was a peacock. It was an interesting find at a hotel in Poland.

A lot of people were looking forward to shopping. However that did not really work out.   We were not aware that shops closed at 2:00. So people that managed to buy anything were lucky.  I had over 200 Zloty to spend, and I could not even spend it. I did buy a dress shirt. Ben and I walked around and we met up with Ellie, Kali, and Lisa in a park behind the cathedral. We walked over to a cafe and went to a cafe. Across from the cafe was a souvenir shop...and it was open. I managed to buy a painting, two bier steins, and some other smaller stuff. I spent most of my Polish money.

We ventured back to the first hotel and had dinner as a choir. Following dinner we walked as a group over to the cathedral steps and we had our final meeting. We thanked our officers, student conductor, and anyone else who had a special role in the choir. DP also thanked the seniors. DP also introduced the rep for next year and next year's tour. It is both exciting and sad that we will not be with Bethel Choir to be able to experience all that they will experience next year.

After dinner the group split up into different things. Some went to a park and played with a frisbee. Me on the other hand just sat outside, watched the sun set, and journaled. It was relaxing. Ellie, Em, and Leah even joined me journaling themselves for a time. Some of the people who were playing frisbee came back and we were talking outside of the cathedral when some Polish boys on bikes stopped and stared at us. They realized that we were not Polish because we spoke English. They spoke to us in broken English and managed to get Alex's fb information. Later I had two friend requests.

Our trip is coming to an end. Tomorrow we drive into Berlin, hangout in Berlin, and then fly home. My parents flew into Germany today. I imagine their flight went well. But since I am writing this after the fact, I can tell you that my parents were re-routed to Koln where they circled the air port there for about an hour. Then they sat on the tarmac waiting for the plane to be re-fueled. They could not be let off the plane because the air port had only two stairs and too many planes. They also only had two refueling trucks. So clearly my parents had a more interesting time getting into Germany than I did.

Final Bethel Choir Concert (June 7th)

Today is a bitter sweet day. Today I sing my last concert with Bethel Choir. It has been an amazing ride these past four years. As with every parting, I reflect on my past experience and memories.  I consider every member of Bethel Choir as a part of my family. Bethel Choir is a community and a family, and I am positive that I am not the only person that feels this way. I cherish the memories and friendships that I have made over the years.

At this time I would like to give a special thanks to DP. Dr. Dennis Port. You were one of the major reasons why I came to Bethel. I look up to you with the utmost respect and honor. Singing for you will be something that I will cherish forever. 

When we arrived in Bydoszcz, we arrived in time for lunch. I explored the city with Ellie, Lisa, Leah, Andrea, and Kali. The story, for at least me on this trip, was that there were many people on this tour and in this choir that I really did not know. I am surprised that I was not friends with some of the people sooner. The six of us had a lovely day exploring the city before our concert. 

This statue was balanced on a wire that spanned the width of the river/canal

The Girls (left to right: Lisa, Leah, and Kali)

The Canal

The girls try an album cover shot (left to right: leah, Kali, Lisa, Andrea, Ellie)

We ate lunch at a place in the main platz. It was fun and equally hard to order food. We really did not know what we were getting because we could not read the menu. We stuck to one of the few things that we knew...pasta. It turned out pretty well. I ate a spicy pasta dish. Don't know what it was or what was in it, but it was tasty. After lunch we walked around more and then we took a break and got some ice cream in a cafe. By then we had to meet up with the rest of the choir people to have our rehearsal before the concert at the church.

Left to Right: Lisa, Leah, Me, Ellie, Kali, and Andrea

We arrived at the church for our rehearsal. It did not really strike me that this was going to be my last concert. I decided that it was not time to be thinking about that. The space upfront was rather limited. The two back rows were squished and therefore had to add an extra row. It was also really hard for those in back to hear the people in front of them. Somehow everything worked out the way that it was supposed to work out. There were some people that came into the church and left the church during our rehearsal. A few of them even came back for the concert. Throughout the tour we were recording every concert to make a live CD. At every concert during our songs "Agnus Dei" and "Magnificat," someone would also cough or make some noise. We just did not have a clean recording of these two songs. So Natalia basically blocked the door or made sure that the door itself did not make noise. We sang these two songs nearly perfectly. So that was good to have finally gotten a clean recording of these two songs.

The site of my final concert

Our dinner consisted of pizza and doughnuts and water. After a few slices of pizza the choir had some down time. Several people used the couches, chairs, and even the floor to take a nap. Others decided to hang out on the lawn of the church. Others yet walked back into town a ways and sat in the platz feeding pigeons. I did a mixture of all three things. I walked around the church and took a few pictures and then walked into town.

The platz with a statue

I don't really know what the statue is of or what it memorializes, but it was very interesting to look at

Once we had robed and had our final devotional, I was handed my robe by my Robe Princess Gabrielle, and I slipped it on for the last time. Throughout this tour my robe has had some malfunctions. The clasp at the top went missing, my zipper pull broke, and the zipper constantly became unclasped. I will not miss wearing my robe. Rather what I will miss are the people that I sang with. Before the concert I made sure to get a picture with the 4-year seniors. We have been around the world together. Arizona and California, the Midwest including Chicago and Ohio, Colorado and everything in-between, and now Europe. I tried to get a picture with each senior separately, but I only managed to get pictures with two of the 5 4-year choir members. There were more of us, but they have dropped out since our freshman year. It was important to get these pictures before the concert, cause almost for certain every senior would be crying having sung our last notes with Bethel Choir.

Jena and Myself

Callie and Myself

The Four Year Seniors (left to right: Myself, Andrea, Jena, Callie, and Jeff)

Crazy Picture!

The concert went well. I felt that I sang one of my best concerts. To be honest, I was unsure of how long I was going to last in the concert. I was confident that I would make it though the end of the concert. But come the end of the concert I would probably loose it. After we had sang our last song, I started to feel the joy and sadness welling up inside me. I could not even sing our benediction "Stay With Us." Hilary, Bre, Jeff, and plenty of others were unable to sing. Tears were in our eyes. After we had sang our last note, DP decided to sing another song. Tynelle next to me yells "why...we can't sing anymore." It was emotional for all of us. As we went outside the seniors were in tears and the underclassmen were crying because the seniors were crying. I completely lost it when I saw Jeff just bawling. We embraced and cried into each others shoulders. Then then looked up and saw Hilary. Hilary is the Robe Queen of the choir. She saw me crying and just bursted into tears. I told her that I am taking my robe off for the last time, and she started to cry again. I approached DP to thank him for all that he has done. I instantly started to cry and I could not even speak. DP embraced me and not much else was said. The embrace said it all.

There were lots of hugs and lots of things said like "I will miss you," "be sure you visit next year," I'll miss your hugs" etc... It was very emotional. The only weird thing was that we still had a few days left of tour. Because the choir was no longer going to Prague, this was our last concert. So what should have been our final act as a choir before leaving was not our final act. I don't think that it will really hit me till next fall when I realize that I do not have to go to choir every day. Then I think I will greatly miss my Bethel Choir family. Despite all of this, it feels like it is time to move on. However that does not change how I feel about the choir. I will remember this choir for the rest of my life.