So, today we headed off to Trier, which isn't actually in Saarland, instead it is in Rhineland-Palatinate (or as the Germans call it Rheinland-Pfalz). Rhineland-Palatinate is effectively a cushion for Saarland against the perils of the rest of Germany - it surrounds our little Bundesland on all its internal borders.
Trier is also the oldest city in Germany (according to Wikipedia, which is always right!), the birthplace of Karl Marx (him of communist manifesto fame, rather than a brother of Groucho!), as well as having some roman buildings too!
We caught the semi-fast train there, which took us just over an hour, which wasn't too bad. The views along the side of the river are pretty nice...what I would describe as picture postcard Germany. In fact, when we went along there this morning, the mist was just rising off of the river, and it was quite eery (I'm not sure how we'd spell that in English, so that's how it stays!).
When we got to Trier we thought we'd have a look around. There were a few places we thought we ought to see there, for example; Porta Nigra (an old Roman gateway to the old city) - still looking quite impressive considering its age, The Dom - which is a real mish-mash (that technical term again) of historical periods, with the main part being built during the Roman times, and other bits added on through medieval times. We also thought we ought to visit Karl Marx's house, which, if I'm honest, was a bit of a let-down. I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but it didn't really live up to it!
So, we did have a look at all of the above places, as well as wandering aimlessly (although we had a map, in case it wall went askew) through the streets of Trier; some of which were very pretty. There was also a market there today, and a mini-Versailles. Then we headed towards the river, which is the Mosel (Moselle in French) and walked long there for a bit, admiring the views on the other side.
Then we headed back to the Bahnhof, and enjoyed a nice train journey back to Saarbruecken from Trier, again enjoying the views from the train window!
This, ladies and gents, is why I came to Germany!
Just to make it easier, and to save uploading photos to two different places. You can see my Year Abroad photo album here
Tuesday 20th October
Sorry, it's taken me an age to get round to updating this....this can be explained simply by saying "Microsoft Windows". I shall explain more about this later!
After our trip to Trier yesterday, we had originally thought about going by tram to Sarreguemines and then taking an SNCF train further into France. This idea, typically, encountered problems! This time in the form of a national strike by SNCF (who else!). Not being deterred from a day out in France, I thought we might go to Forbach (which I think is just one big housing estate full of HLM (council flats, for non-French speakers)) and if we go as a group we may find something else worth visiting...so we arranged to meet at the train station to catch the bus to Forbach in the morning. I have travelled to Forbach by bus before without problems using just my university semester ticket...however, for some reason best known to the driver, we weren't able to travel on this bus...so again, determined to visit France today, we waited quarter of an hour for the tram to Sarreguemines.
We had another wander around Sarreguemines (although, it was still pretty dead), had a cup of coffee, looked at the cinema to see if there were any films worth seeing (there weren't any on until the evening), and then headed over to Intermarche to grab a few groceries before heading home.
So, all in all, a typical day - brick walls, more brick walls, and a couple more just for good measure! Still, the tram ride was pleasant!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the computer problems....so when I got home from Sarreguemines I flicked on the laptop, went and put the kettle on, came back ready to log-in, to find it had a corrupt boot-up file...being a technical whizz-kid I knew what this needed, so I switched it off and on again! Erm...this didn't work, and I was out of ideas! So, this wasn't a pleasant evening all in all...and a day in which Obstacles seemed to be the word of the day! You'll be pleased to know the computer problems were solved later on in the week!
Wednesday 21st October
Today I had my final round of bureaucracy in Germany...after this, no other German authorities need to be told about me! I had an appointment at 11am at the Auslaenderamt (Foreigners' Office) to get something called a Freizuegigkeitsbescheinigung (which I now know is effectively a piece of paper, saying that I can do as I please in Germany as I'm a citizen of the EU). I walked there from home, and got there about 10.35, and my number was called (another one of these ticket and number systems) at 10.45. The process involved me handing over pretty much every other piece of paperwork I had accumulated during my time here and the man in the office photocopying it. Then he gave me this piece of paper and I was free to go. I left the office at 10.55 (5 minutes before my original appointment time) - this was a true example of German efficiency at work!
Following my appointment, I decided to have a random day out on the trains, so I travelled on the train to a town called Dillingen, where I'd seen there was a branch-line, which I thought I'd take; just to see where it goes really! It goes to a place called Niedaltersdorf - which is, as I realised, just a small village with a church, a river, and a pub (which was closed for lunch!). Thus, it was a difficult place in which to kill 45 minutes waiting for the train to come back - so I sat down and read some of my book! After going there, I headed back to Saarbruecken, with the intention of going shopping...this I didn't do, preferring instead to head home and do very little!
Thursday 22nd October
Today, I had a lot to do! With Mum & Dad arriving in the evening, I felt it was necessary to do some tidying up! So, I started in earnest to do that about 10 am, after being distracted by the internet far too easily! After tidying for a bit, I decided it would be a good idea to iron the clothes that had been languishing on my clothes horse for the past few days - when at the same moment, I realised my laundry basket was full...so off I trotted to the washing machine with my bag full of clothes.
After I'd started the whole washing process, and begun to iron...I remembered I had to go shopping too. So, down to the bus stop I went with all my bags and shopping list. I had a bit more shopping this week, what with having to feed two other mouths and all, so it was a bit bloody heavier coming up the 67 steps to my house!
When I got back, I finished the ironing, and fetched the washing from the machine, and reloaded my clothes horse (so, really my room was just as full this morning, all I had achieved was to put some more of my clothes back in the wardrobe!).
During the afternoon, I had the fun job of dusting and cleaning my room! Ladies & Gents, please take note - as nice as laminate flooring looks, it is a right pain in the backside to keep clean, as it attracts dust like nobody's business!
As you can tell, the bulk of my day was well planned, well executed and generally was a lot of fun. (I've not got a sarcasm font, but if I did, this last sentence would appear in it!)
When Mum & Dad arrived, we had some tea, and spoke to my landlady, and then we went for a walk down to the Schloss, and had a beer before enjoying the bus ride home!
Friday 23rd October
So, on the first day of my parents' being here, we decided that instead of enjoying some of Germany, we would have a trip to Sarreguemines. We wandered around there for a bit, had a nice walk around the market, and then had a coffee! We then walked down by the side of the Saar (or Sarre, if you're a patriotic Frenchman), before heading off to Kleinblittersdorf for lunch and to repeat my walk from Kleinblittersdorf to Guedingen.
I should, at this juncture, briefly mention the weather (well, as there's three English people here - it would be negligent of our stereotype not to!) - it was a drizzly and cloudy day, but not exceptionally cold.
The walk was broken at Guedingen, where they conveniently left a pub, with a couple of drinks, before walking back to Kleinblittersdorf. It would appear that in this part of Germany they have employed the same person to count the distances as they have in Devon. (For those of you who don't know - Distances in Devon are often far further than the signs tell you they are - e.g. if a sign tells you it's 5 miles to Modbury, be aware it could be 8 actual miles!). How do I know this? Well, at one end of our walk, it purports to be 5km to the other end, whilst at the other end walking back along the same path will be 7.5km...where do the extra 2.5km come from? Who knows!
After walking as far as we did today, we decided to stay in and watch a film tonight.
During the film, we decided to use my computer's own rescue and recover system - this basically reformats my computer and then kindly installs Windows back on it. This might sound awful, but luckily I had saved a lot of my work on a memory stick, so that wasn't so bad! What's more annoying is that I now have to re-install a lot of my software back on the computer, which is more a time-consuming problem than anything else! Damned computers!
Saturday 24th October
Today we went to a couple of towns not too far away from Saarbruecken - indeed actually doing something in Germany! One of these was Saarlouis, which I had already visited with some of the other assistants; here we walked around the market and the infamous Tedi shop (basically a poundstretcher). We also had a walk along the side of the moat around the old fortifications in Saarlouis, which was very nice. At the moment, it is a perfect time to get some fantastic pictures of the orange, and red leaves on the trees!
After lunch in Saarlouis, we headed off to Merzig, where we actually went in a Woolworth (not quite the same thing as the ones which closed in January, but started by the same American). After walking around the town, which is nice, but there really isn't a lot here (except for two train stations!)...there is, though, a hill, from which you can have some fantastic views over the Saar and over the valley. (I've already put some photos on the blog in one of my September entries, if you're interested!)
This evening my landlady cooked a typical Saarlaendisch dinner for us. It consisted of a rare Saarlaendisch delicacy...err...maybe, not rare....in fact, not normally a delicacy....potatoes. The meal started with Potato soup, followed by pureed potato with cabbage, followed by a Lyoner sausage (which is originally French, but the Saarlaenders like to claim ownership for it!). This was finished off with stewed apple, and a few pieces of french cheese. All of this was washed down with a little (or, in fact, quite a lot) white wine! I would also like to add my name to the list of people (mainly students) that argue that alcohol makes languages easier and more fluent!
All in all, a very pleasant evening to end a pleasant day! It was also an opportunity to get to know my flatmate a bit better, because prior to this, we had often passed like ships in the night (me early in the morning and her late back in the evening!).
Sunday 25th October
So, today, we went out to see some more picturesue places within Saarland. The main reason for this was that everything is shut on a Sunday. The first port of call was a small town in Northern Saarland called Mettlach. Near to Mettlach is a famous bend in the Saar called the Saarschleife (Saar loop)...it is basically the only thing that normal Germans would recognise from the Saarland! I'm no geographer, so I'll explain it in layman's terms - it's basically a bend in the Saar, which almost goes back on itself. (I will put some pictures up when I put that piece of software back on my newly reformatted computer!).
From Mettlach, we thought it would be a good idea to walk along the river, to see what the loop was like from the bottom of the hill. It is pretty unimpressive to be honest. Admittedly, the river finds itself in a very deep wooded valley, which at this time of year is very pretty with the autumn colours, but in terms of noticing the actual bend, it's negligible because you are on the bend for so long, it becomes normalised.
So, after walking around the bend and back, we decided to head up to the viewpoint, from where there are some pretty good photo opportunities to be had of the view over the Saarschleife. We took some photos and decided that it was well worth the journey!
It was a little bit early to go home, so we headed over to Losheim am See, where there is a railway museum (which I knew would be closed, being a Sunday and all). It was surprising how easily accessible the museum property was; you could walk pretty freely around the main platform areas, and they are running trains along their preserved line at the end of November - so guess where I'll be then!!!
After briefly walking round there, we headed home and had a nice stroll down by the Schloss (castle) in Saarbruecken before catching the friendly bus back!
Several European, and intra-German excursions planned next week...I'll keep you posted!
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