May 15, 2012
Had to get up way too early today! And for me it wasn’t even
early, I’m getting so spoiled on this trip, but at 7:10 my alarm went off and I
had to crawl out of bed. Meeting downstairs at 8:15am to leave for our field
trip to Landshut I was pretty much dragging my feet out the door and to the
train station. It was about a 45 minute train ride, on which I couldn’t sleep
at all because I was too busy attempting to keep down the contents of my
stomach. However, we finally arrive in Landshut and all my weariness is
forgotten. The city is absolutely gorgeous! Definitely tied for my favorite
with Regensburg. The city is about 800 years old and the gentleman that meets
us at the train station is the official head of the historical architecture department
in Landshut, so he is very knowledgeable about city and it’s past.
Landshut was founded over 800 years ago and still maintains
a lot of its medieval features. For example walking into the city we pass
through one of the first gates to the city that was there during medieval
times. We then head into was used to be the biggest of three original market
areas. The shops lining the street are so interesting and have the cutest things
in them that I can’t help but hope we have a little extra time to explore the
city at the end of our day. We stop for coffee at a little shop in the market
area and I enjoy a cappuccino and the company of a very adorable puppy, who
belongs to the lady sitting behind me. Since we are in a hurry we don’t get much time
to sit there and I have to drink my coffee rather quickly before we head to the
city hall.
At the city hall we meet Herr Bohmeyer, who will be giving
us a lecture on the local government in Germany. He doesn’t know a lot of
English so the gentleman who showed us to the city hall also operates as a
translator for us. I find this lecture very interesting, especially having come
fresh from my local and state government class that I took this past semester.
I could actually understand what they were talking about and some of the
logistics behind the way that their local government is set up, which happens
to be very similar to what you would find in the United States. We have a short
picture session afterwards with the head of public relations and then head out
for a quick lunch and for another, more in depth, tour of the city.
Lunch happens at this authentic German restaurant and, oh
boy, it is sooo good! I have the spargel, which is a white looking asparagus, a
delicacy in Germany because they only have it this time of year. Along with
that comes a delicious cheese sauce and a pork tenderloin that is pounded flat
and then deep fried, also very good, but the meal is so filling I have a very
difficult time finishing it, though I do manage somehow. After lunch we say
goodbye to Herr Bohmeyer and the lady with him and continue on our tour.
The church that is in the center of the city is the start of
the tour and we learn that it was actually the citizens of the tour that built
the church and not the Duke. The church took over 100 years to build and was
650 years old! The current church was built on top of the first church that was
built in the town and you could actually walk below the current church to the
old one, although we were not allowed to. The steeple on the church is the
tallest brick structure in the world 129 meters tall, which ironically enough
made it 30 meters taller than the Duke’s castle. The peasants wanted to prove
to the Duke that they were important and wealthy also. We were able to get a
short glimpse of the castle, but sadly it was too far away to go to. I’m
determined to actually see inside a castle before I leave, but I’m ok holding
out for Neuschwanstein, which is the one I really want to visit while I am down
here.
Unfortunately, our tour has to be cut short do to the impending
weather, so we are briefly shown the city hall, where the paintings on the wall
depict the marriage of a Duke to a Polish princess, a tradition that is shown
through a festival that the city puts on every four years. The festival is a
huge deal in Landshut and attracts visitors from all over the world. I guess
that’s another thing to add to my bucket list. We are also shown a mini model
of the city that the officials use to see what kind of buildings should be
allowed in the city and where they should go. Landshut puts a lot of emphasis
on combining the old with the new and keeping the historical context of the
city. The guy who gave us the tour was so in love with the city and you could
tell that he absolutely loved talking about his city. It’s so rare to see that
kind of passion in a person for the place where they live. I felt that if I was
thinking about moving to Germany I would move to Landshut just for how well
that guy sold the city. It wasn’t even just him though; both people that we
talked to today had a passion for their city that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Sadly we did not get time to go back and explore the shops, but maybe someday I’ll
be back if I go to that festival.
The train ride back was uneventful and I was definitely
feeling a little tired since it was almost 5 in the afternoon at this point.
The rains put a hold on running today, so instead I work on my computer for a
bit and then decide to go do laundry with Molly. We find the laundry place ok
and luckily the person working in there speaks English so we have no trouble
figuring out how to work the washers and order a nice cup of coffee while we
wait for our laundry to finish. While we were waiting we decide to go down and
ask the hairdresser how much a cut would cost. Walking in Molly approaches the
gentleman and first asks him if he speaks English. Receiving an affirmative she
then asks for a price list and he responds that a wash, cut, and blow dry costs
64 euros. We respond with “Well maybe we will be back” and bolt out the door.
Pretty sure I’ll wait two weeks for my $18 haircut in Bristol.
It takes almost an hour to wash our laundry and since it was
two hours in the dryer we decide to head to dinner rather than wait longer at
the Wash and Coffee. After collecting the other two at the hotel we head to the
Asabo Steak House a few blocks from the hotel and I order a jalapeno burger
that is HUGE! The food is delicious
though and we have a very fun time laughing and listening to stories from each
other. The couple next to us probably could’ve chilled out on the PDA, it was
slightly distracting from our meal, but at the same time I feel that we were
probably distracting them with our laughing and gimmicks.
Finishing dinner, Molly and I head back to collect our
laundry, which has finally finished drying.
We head back to the hotel through the rain. On our way we pass through
this market and I am walking on the left side of Molly, passing this tree out
of the corner of my eye I see something move. Assuming it is just a pigeon I
completely ignore it and keep talking to Molly. However, right as I pass the
tree the “pigeon” quacks at me and I jump about three feet in the air and let
out a fairly big yell. Landing on my feet and catching my breath I realize that
I mistook two German ducks for pigeons and it just shocked the crap out of me
when I heard them. Molly in the meantime is practically dying from laughter and
I’m forced to regain whatever dignity I have left and continue to the hotel,
which is now less than a block away. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be able to live
down the fact that I got scared outta my pants by two ducks every again. J
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