Super Post
I have been neglecting my blog, and so now I will ambush you all with a super long post full of pictures.
I have been pretty occupied ever since we moved into our new apartment and I started taking German classes again. I go to class from 10am to 3pm four days a week. I have to say that I feel like I have made more progress in German in these last three weeks than I have the entire time I've been here.
I am dreaming in German, talking to Penny in German, and yes, even Mike and I are finally speaking some German together.
We went to the Museum Night in Dresden a while back. They sold one ticket that gave you entrance to all of the many museums in Dresden for the night. Unfortunately we got a late start, and the Biergartens slowed us down a bit, so we didn't see very many museums.
But I did get to take some cool night-time pictures of Dresden.
I also finally went to Meissen on a trip with my class. Meissen is also on the Elbe River, and is well known for its Meissen Porcelain Manufacture, the Albrechtsburg, and the Cathedral.
We went into the Meissen Porcelain Museum and saw hundreds of porcelain pieces that were all hand made. They were gorgeous and very expensive. In the shop they sold second-tier items that had tiny flaws for a little less (a little less being only a few hundred euros for a tea cup). Maybe if they had fifth-tier items I could afford those.
We got to tour the Albrechtsburg which is an old castle that was built up on a hill for protection, and the Cathedral, which is one of the smallest in Europe because it had to fit on the hilltop.
Both were very gorgeous with high vaulted ceilings and murals. (This picture I submitted to Exposaroonie's Challenge this week.
I am always so amazed at these old buildings and how much work it must have taken to build them without modern day machinery! They must have been truly awe-inspiring to see back then, even more so than today.
My final bit of news is that on Thursday we decided to take the train to Berlin and see Obama speak at the Siegessäule (Victory Column).
Maybe you had not heard, but there was some controversy over where he would speak. Some thought the Brandenberg Gate was too important for a candidate to speak at, so he ended up speaking at the column which is to commemorate the Prussian Victory in the Danish-Prussian War.
This choice is being criticized by some because they say it is associated with Hitler, but I say, it is probably hard to find something that isn't.
Anyways, over 200,000 people showed up to hear Obama speak. The crowds were crazy. We waited about an hour in a crowd where we were crammed together like cattle and I literally could not move. The problem was that there were too few metal detectors and it took forever to get through them.
When we finally did get through we were just in time for the speech to begin. But there were so many people that I couldn't even see Obama unless Mike lifted me up, and then he was pretty far away. We got some pictures and Mike held me up for a few minutes.
After that we were just exhausted from the ordeal getting in so we sat down and enjoyed the speech.
Obama is truly a good orator. He mostly spoke about the need for world cooperation. In an increasingly globalized world, we all need to put our differences aside and learn to work together!
I have had an action packed few weeks, so I think I will have a quiet, laid back weekend. But I'm glad we decided to go to Berlin, even though it was last minute. I think it would have been dumb not to go see something as historic as that when it is so close.
As usual, if you'd like to see more pictures you can check out my photo albums.