So here is a picture of Heydn:

Video from my walk through Geneva, Switzerland. It needs a lot of work, but I hope you enjoy it!

So, Normandy was pretty awesome.

I have been making a list of possible future updates, but right now I am just relaxing in Wiesbaden, Germany. Although my trip is ending in 8 days, I will continue to write about my experiences after I return to America - hopefully with a more regular update pattern. Though, for now, I hope you just enjoy this photography taken during a bike ride through Normandy’s beautiful countryside.

And now for the fun and interesting stuff:

Saturday, February 9, 2008:
Castle tour on the Rhine - Driving along the curves of the Rhine River, we could see every 3-8 minutes another large castle. We stopped at a few, including: Marksburg and Burg Rheinfels.
We stopped to have cakes and tea at a little pastry store in one of the small villages at the base of a castle.
Walking through one of the many towns, we came across the remains of an old chapel, where the rumor of Jews sacrificing Christian children to drink their blood was first started, and thus sparking much anti-Semitism pre-WWII.

Sunday, February 10, 2008:
Went to Frankfurt, a very busy town, with a well structured street car system.
Saw the remains of an old Roman wall and the little museum constructed within it. Apparently, there used to be a very long wall running the length of the Roman boarder within Germany. We also went to see a village made up of old houses from around Germany, very similar to colonial Williamsburg in America.
Autobahn: The roadway system in Germany is very interesting. All the drivers go very fast, but you cannot get your full license until you are at least 18 and pass a rigorous driving course. This system of training allows the Germans to have no speed limit in some parts of their highway system (the autobahn) allowing crazy people, like Klaus, to drive over 220 km/h (roughly 137 MPH) whenever traffic allows.
After learning an important lesson in surviving the autobahn, Klaus, being the nice guy that he is, decided to introduce me to a German dish called, and I kid you not, “Hand cheese with music.” This wonderfully creative dish is composed of a firm cheese covered in onions and vinegar. Of course, this delightful dish has to be served with an equally tasteful libation - apple-wine. I should point out that apple-wine is very sour, so it should be easy to understand why I demanded my German citizenship after consuming such a potent meal (least I seek and odor-filled revenge later that night).

Tuesday - Wednesday:
- Traveled around vineyards with Sylvia, went to an old monastery, explored the German countryside. Took the bus into Wiesbaden with Jens; saw an old Roman bridge; looked at stores; walked to the newly refinished, and very shiny, Russian Orthodox Church; had dinner at Sylvia’s sister’s house where I was introduced to Schnapps and German humor by her brother-in-law.

Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14, 2008:
-Woke up early to go to school with Jens. The morning was heavy with a fog so thick that you could not make out the bed-head of the student in front of you. I was introduced as a great opportunity during English class, and as in America, none of the students jumped on the chance to ask questions. In the German class I was used to pose out a scene in their book - I had to place my hand on some girl’s shoulder, though, having just basked in the warm glow of KFC for lunch, I was a little worried that my hand smelled like fried chicken.
-I returned to find some beautiful yellow roses waiting for me from my girlfriend. The flowers are surprisingly still alive and doing well after more than a week on the kitchen table, a feat which could not be said if roses were in the least bit eatable.

One month away, Friday, February 15, 2008:
-Marking my first month away from home ever, I spent the day going grocery shopping with Sylvia, eating Rachlet, and going to a bar with Jens and his friends. I saw that they had Jack Daniels on the menu, and being from Tennessee, I wanted to share a local flavor with my German friends. Unfortunately, they only had two shots left and no one liked the taste… I was left very disappointed with my home state, thanks a lot Lynchburg.

Saturday:
Went to Heidelberg, which was pretty awesome. I can see why it is such a tourist attraction for Americans.
We had apple pancakes for dinner…. Which is normal for Germans, or so they lead me to believe.
Went to a German club, but everyone I was with was under 18 and couldn’t get in so we walked around and went to Burger King. I know everyone is dying to know what it was like, so I will tell you. It sucked. It sucked just as much as burger king sucks in America. If Burger King were to get in a fight with the giant squid from 2000 leagues under the sea, not only would Burger King win, it would also lose to Keanu Reeves in an acting contest.

AND FOR LATER - PART II:

There is a lot to be said about the little things in Germany, but honestly, I really do not feel like writing about it right now… That is going to be the topic of a later post… All the little interesting things I have found out about Germany and what I did this week!! Stay tuned to find what happens! Same place, same time, same Nate.

after a little over a month…….

30cm Hamburger + 2L Beer….

More to come later in the next day or so, will start writing tonight.

Tonight I went to a German house party with one of the sons. It was very entertaining watching a bunch of German teenagers jumping around while listening and singing to English and American music. The entire experience was like watching an 80s American movie, but with people talking in German and not doing drugs. The drinking age here is 16, so the majority of teenagers spend their time out with friends drinking a few beers or wine in a safe place. That culture is especially odd to me, and the same was thought about me when I told people I didn’t drink - though one guy thought it was really cool.

As a last note of interest, I am going to do a tour of castles along the Rhine river tomorrow, which I will most likely write a long post about later. I read that the FBI is preparing businesses for Martial Law, so I hope everything is going well in America.

It has been twenty-two days since leaving Nashville. Twenty-two days for two thousand different experiences. This being the longest I have ever been away from home; away from my parents; away from my bed; away from my friends; sorry bed, but it’s a fair trade. Though, there are many little things I do miss about America, such as: obese people, English-speakers (I cannot eavesdrop here), being able to do laundry, inexpensive restaurants, and high-quality toilet paper. With these pleasantries behind me, I have been left to explore this New World, myself, and the future as a whole (being 7-hours into the future, that is).

Wednesday, January 16, 2008:
Arrived in Geneve, Switzerland. Met up with Dominique, who then rushed me into his car, and then to the flat, where we both slept for a few hours. Groggy with a stomach ache, which can only be described as, “feeling like shit,” I awoke to find myself on a couch in a kitchen in a country in which I do not speak the language. This was not a good combination for my emotional stability, having never been away from home before. With much apathy, I followed Dom down the street to possibly the most adorable cafe ever conceived. It is as if the cafe from Amelie mated with antique-toy shop, only to produce a child with a genius-level IQ who only wears smoking jackets.

After sipping at some tea and shyly tasting some ‘pain chocolat,’ we started to make a short tour of the city. Geneve, as a whole, is covered with spray paint. One would assume that every child, upon reaching adolescence was given a can of paint and told to make himself known to the world. My first impressions of the rainy city didn’t help my homesickness, everything here just felt dirty and dilapidated. We walked through the shopping street, filled with Tommy Hilfiger, Levi, jewelry, watch, camera, and H&M stores. Though there was some interesting architecture, the majority of the city felt like it was a cancerous-consumer growth off of the old-town. Although I didn’t make it to old-town the first day, I was still able to see it there, sitting on top of a hill; its antiquated shutters filling up stucco walls.

Friday, January 18, 2008:
After spending my first two days in Europe terribly homesick and jet-lagged, I decided that it would probably be best to go visit my friend Hunter Claire in Paris. To reach my Parisian goal, I would first have to brave the dark arts of the French train ticket. Unbeknownst to me, there are in fact little numbers next to the train doors displaying the car number. Unfortunately, I made my way to seat 42 in what I thought was car two. After sitting there, with a feeling that can only be described as pride, a disgruntled French woman informed me that I was in her seat and that I should be in car 8. I thought she was unnecessarily rude, especially when there was no number 8 on my ticket (later I asked a French speaker about this as well, and there was nothing on my ticket about what car I should be in). Anyhow, I grabbed my stuff and ran outside in what I thought to be the direction of car 8. After running back and forth for a minute, I found the conductor who told me to just come back on the car I was already in and to sit down in a seat by a window in the back.

The train ride consisted of me anxiously hoping no one would approach me again, awkward nodding at the two people who sat across from me, one a nauseated French man, and later, a young awkwardly intimidating young-french-techno-blasting Satanist. The Satanist was the nicer of the two, he would lower the blinds just enough to block the sun from his eyes, and would open it again when it wasn’t as direct so I could continue looking out at the scenery. The ride from Geneve and Paris contains some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen: little towns filled with tiny cottages, all surrounding the main church; mossy mountains with stony fingers, clawing at the many waterfalls; long rivers running through forests; streams running through green fields, red soil freshly turned.

I arrived into Gare de Lyon, a massive old train station with banisters covered in pigeon droppings, which is where I met up with Hunter Claire, and found myself again being swept off into a new city. I quickly noticed that Paris is a city of smells, some good, some bad, but all surprisingly random and just as interesting. Riding the metro, you go from the smell of body odor, to roses, to sewage, back to roses, then to chocolate, then to fresh bread, ending with the worst smell you could possibly imagine. The ride to the Legion of Honor school in Saint-Dennis, where Hunter Claire lives, gave me enough time to fully experience these many different nasal experiences.

Saint-Dennis is practically the immigrant ghetto of Paris, just to the north of the city, it is also home to the oldest gothic cathedral, the Basilica of Saint-Dennis. There is a large square for tri-weekly markets, surrounded by ethnic restaurants, junk shops, cafes, both for internet and coffee, and a movie house. The streets are long and dirty, filled with a tasting of people from around the world, which can lead to some interesting mixed couples. One of the most interesting aspects of Saint-Dennis, is the number of interracial couples and how accepting the people, while the rest of Paris is more inclined to raise an eyebrow at the subject.


Saint-Dennis, Paris, France - Hunter Claire’s Room

After dropping my things off and setting up my bed, we went to the Louvre, which is free on Friday nights. The Louvre was how I expected it; everything biggie-sized with a side of massive. I saw the Mona Lisa, but I was more impressed with the large painting directly opposite, though I do not remember the name or the artist. The entire experience is very overwhelming, there, in one building, is a collection of art encompassing the entirety of human history.

Sunday, January 20, 2008:

Went to Versailles, as with the Louvre, it is very overwhelming. At one moment you are amazed by the beauty and work put into this huge organism; every inch of the building contain hand-crafted detailing; every leaf in the massive gardens has been delicately placed; while at the same time you have to realize that this was built on the backs of the starving Parisians. Although, Marie Antoinette did have a place in her heart for the peasants; though it is completely ridiculous, she built her own little village where she could pretend she was living the hard-rugged life of a rural French woman. Complete with goats, thatched roof houses, streams and ducks, Marie Antoinette would milk cows, plant flowers, and talk to the ‘town folk.’

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The next few days consisted of a picnic in the Paris graveyard, having amazing hot chocolate, visiting Sacre Coeur, stuffing ourselves with Banana-Nutella crepes, walking around the red-light district (which is where they have the cheapest and most tasty crepes), seeing the Eiffel tower, walking around the outside of the Pompideou Centre, making dinner, watching dinner, seeing Notre Dame, visiting little cathedrals, trying salted crepes (not as good as sweet crepes, but what is), discovering the Latin quarter and the Jewish quarter, eating the best falafel ever, going to the Luxembourg gardens, exploring the Chateau de Vincennes, looking through the many markets, exploring the Musee D’Orsay, seeing the Rodin museum, reading Flannery O’Conner, and visiting the little Palace.

There is far too much to say about each one of these separate places, though it can be said that there was an abundance of walking involved and that each one was enjoyable. When walking around Paris you really feel as if you are part of something bigger, some massive body all moving towards the same purpose. Yet, Paris is filled with small quiet moments. Riding on the metro is loud, but when the doors open, for just a minute, if you listen closely, everything is silent and you can hear the sounds of music, then the door buzzer sounds and the noise returns.

If anyone would like to hear more about any of these things, or some of the other things we did, just ask and I’ll make a post about that specific story.

Saturday, February 2, 2008:
Hunter Claire and I took the train back to Geneve. Our seats faced the back of the train, so it was almost as if I was moving backwards through time to the start of my journey, returning to face the city which had left me homesick. Arriving in Geneve, Hunter Claire was left with a similar feeling as I had upon my first arrival into the city, one of emotional drain and dislike. While walking around looking for a place to eat dinner, we saw a rather terrible fist-fight, which didn’t help to put our disgust to rest. We eventually decided on a Mexican restaurant, but let it be said, the Swiss no not how to make a chimichanga, also it was ridiculously expensive. The Swiss franc is about 0.90 to the US dollar, and the food was around 20 francs…

Sunday, February 3, 2008:
We awoke to a completely new city, everything had changed. With the mountains in the distance, we walked around the city, taking in the sites, and enjoying the weather. We explored Old-Town, which was amazing, to say the least, sat in a few cafes, explored the lake, saw the world’s tallest fountain, visited Calvin’s church and saw his chair, and we came across a Russian orthodox church, which was beautiful. Exploring the city in the daylight overhauled both our previous feelings towards the once drab city.

Over the next two days we were able to do some sight seeing, go shopping, and just enjoy exploring an old European City. Many photographs were taken, many cobblestone alleys walked through, and many stairs climbed. Unlike Paris, Geneve is relatively small and has a uncrowded feel to it. The Old-Town feels like your own person medieval playground, with its many unique shops and cafes. My favorite store was the, Antiquites Scientifiques, which was filled with old cameras, arcane tools, and antiquated medical devices.

Today, Tuesday, February 5, 2008:
Hunter Claire returned to Paris. I am spending the day organizing my things for my trip to Germany on Thursday, catching up on email, and writing this post. My plans right now for the next few weeks are as follows:

Thursday, February 7, 2008:
Take train from Geneve, Switzerland to Wiesbaden, Germany - a 7 hour ride.

From the 7th until the 18th, explore Germany with Sylvia and her family.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008:
Return to Geneve, Switzerland.

Friday, February 22, 2008:
Return to Paris, marking the beginning of Hunter Claire’s two week vacation. The next day leave for Normandy, where we will stay for a couple of days. After which, we would get a France/Italy rail pass and travel around the two countries.

Monday, March 10, 2008:
Return to Geneve, where I will hopefully find Fred Clarke. Spend the next few days seeing the city and possibly some of Switzerland with him. Then possibly returning to America.

Most of these plans are still up for change, if anyone has a suggestions for what I should see while in Germany, or what we should do for the vacation, please let me know.