Germany

So, we've been in Germany for about a week now, and I am quite enjoying it! It's not as exciting nor as foreign as China, but it certainly has it charms. For one thing though, the show is way harder on this tour then on the last one because we are down five dancers thus eliminating most rotations, and there are two new dances! We moan about it a lot, but I guess it's not all that bad. My shin splints tell me otherwise though.

One of the highlights so far has been Kirsten's birthday bash. All the towns so far, bar Hamburg, have been rather small with not much to do, so we all got really excited at the prospect at going out. So a week before hand, Kirsten announced the theme on the bus. It was a party where you had to dress up as something that started with a K or S (for her initials). Everybody put a lot of effort and thought into their costumes, which is admirable considering the limited clothes we have on tour.

Oli as a Sheep!
Kirsten the birthday girl as a Scuba diver, and myself as a Southern belle.

Barry being absolutely disgusting as "Supersize Me" or my Southern beau. He acted his part the whole entire night. It was hilarious and disturbing to say the least.

Morgan as Ken, Michael as a Sheriff, and Kelly as a Sunflower!
Lauren and Dave as sailors.

So yeah, that was great craic.

Anyhow, today, we had our first day off. We are in this tiny town called Hirschaid, about a 40 minute train ride outside of Nurenberg, the coolest city evar! So after going to bed at 4 am last night, we rose early to go into town. (cause wer'e crazy!). We took the train into town and headed straight for the Nuremberg Rallies, or as Gillian calls it, Nazi World. It's on the outskirts of the town and was where all the Nazi rallies and annual conventions were held. The complex is absolute giant! 11 square km I believe. We spent about three hours there, mostly in the old Congress that had all the great historical information. It was so interesting hearing the story from the heart of where everything happened.




We were rather surprised by the state of the place. It was not really well kept at all. All the grandstands were overgrown and there was junk lying around everywhere. Now they use this field as a huge soccer pitch. Well, lots of soccer pitches. We stood right where Hitler is in that picture. Pretty surreal.



Back in the town, we walked through the medieval section enclosed by the walls. I was excited to see Albrecht Durer's house right across the street from the castle. He was probably the artist of the Northern Renaissance. If only I had got to see his artwork! Next time I s'pose?


Also in the old town, my personal favorite, was this beast of a High Gothic cathedral, St. Lawrence. I nearly cried when I walked inside, it was such a defining moment in my life. Wow, that sounds so cheesy. But, ever since AP art history last year, I've been dying to see a High Gothic cathedral in the flesh. Yeah, and what's better, is this wasn't the only one. But, it was definitely my favorite.

Afterwards, we made a trip out to the Nuremberg Courts, which was incredible too. It's where they tried the war criminals in a sort of international trial and a bunch of them got executed.

While we were running around like mad seeing the city, we missed the presidential innaguration, which I'm pretty sad about. I would have loved to seen that. Ironically, everybody else, like all the Irish kids were sitting back at the hotel watching it, and here we are, the crazy Americans missing it!

Anyhow, 1 30 am now, and I swore I would be in bed by 10 pm. (Which I was by the way, just couldn't sleep!

Peace.