Germany: Day 1

So now I can finally start talking about what I have done so far! That's the thing about not being able to get on until a day after everything has happened. You have to start off way early so you can catch everyone up.

So we left the airport and my uncle then had a couple options for us as far as what to see first. My aunt and cousins were in school all day and my Uncle had the day off so we were going to go around with him. We decided to go to "Waldspirale" first. On our way we passed a monument for the airplanes that flew food into Berlin during World War II I believe.
We drove on the auto bon (Is that how you spell that?) and let me tell you... it was fast! Cars were going all over the place. All the trucks have to stay int he right most of lanes and can only go 100 kph. We were in an older van so we stayed in the right lane most of the time, but we did get to cruise with the fast cars one in a while. The streets were very interesting. The trafic lines are really cool and all the curviness is fun. We got to "Waldspirale" and I was really amazed! (To see a picture go here)

Waldspirale is an apartment building located in Darmstadt's Burderpark viertel. It was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, but built by the Bauverein Darmstadt company and planned by architect Heinz M. Springmann. It was completed in 2000! It has about 105 apartments, a parking garage and a cafe and bar at the way top of the tower. There are a 1000 windows in the building and all of them are different! Similarly, all the handles to the apartments aren't the same either! The building reminded me of a Dr. Zues book... seriously!

I took some pictures as we walked around it and under it. I was really surprised to find that it's just an apartment building! Imagine living in a room in that building?? And it's not that bad price wise either.

After we checked that out we went to option 2 anyway and saw the "Lorche Abbey" in Lorche (of course) which is about 6 miles east of Worms. You can aslo see pictures of this at the link above too. It has quite a bit of history to it and is worth looking up on Wikipedia for information. There were even bullet holes in the side of the building. The Gatehouse was also really cool. The stone design and the shapes are all really amazing. I'm going to run out of adjectives to describe things really soon!

We walked around a little bit in the little town square and went to a bakery. I'm not sure what I got to eat, but it was a square pastrey with vanilla pudding/custart in on top with a pile of cherry sauce in the middle. IT was really good! The streets and walking places are really detailed! The way they lay the stone and the design is really cool. We then walked back to the vehicle and headed to the doctor for a check up my uncle had. While he went to get a check up we walked along the Neckar river on a back street and saw some really pretty houses. We then walked up a hill street and looked around in the shops. We reached the top of the street and hung out in a market place until my uncle picked us up. His doctor appointment was rescheduled for later so we then went home and unloaded. I got my stuff settled and then took a nap. I meant to sleep for 30 minutes, but that turned into over an hour as I was obviously really tired. My uncle got back and we loaded up in his car and drove to get passes so we could go on base. "On Base" means that we can go into the U.S. military "town" type place. There are American shools and stores "on base". I had to fill out some forms and then they had to take my picture... and let me tell you I look like a ghost! I'm note sure what the deal is with their camera, but it made me look bad. Then they had to scan my finger prints and that was cool :)

After we got our passes we had to wait for my Aunt to meet up with us. We greeted her and then I went with my Uncle to wait for my cousins to be picked up after school activities. My cousin Ana had soccer try outs and my other cousin Emily had Ballette till 7:30. IT was around 4:30 when we got to the soccer try outs and I got to say hi to Ana before they started. My uncle and I went and ate at the bowling alley across the street and had an american experience in Germany. We watched the sports channel for a while and then went and waited till my cousin was done. We picked her up around 6:00 and went to the mall to get something for her to eat.
We went to this really cool place that made all sorts of crepes! I had a chocolate one and it was really good. By then though I was super full because of all the things I had eaten. We then looked around and went to a media center which had all sorts of technological things. The mac screens they had there were huge!! And they had TVs bigger than me!! I was kinda blown back. Oh and you really have to watch where you look because some of the advertisements over here are very... inapproriate almost.

We then picked up my other cousin and headed home. I showed my pictures of the day to them and then fell asleep for the 30 minute ride home. I got home and talked with everyone for a bit and then called home to let everyone know I made it safely. Then I sat down and tuned the guitar and played for a bit. Then I got read for bead and "really slept" for the first time in 27 hours. I played a song before I went to sleep on my IPod and don't even remember listening to it... Ahhh sleep :)

My adventure continues in... Germany: Day 2!