Train ride!

Everyone got to sleep in a little bit before we headed to the train station for our trip to Erfurt.  We got to watch a lot of humanity pass by in the train station before boarding.  Lots of people with dogs, a few crazy people yelling in German, a number of families with babies in awesome strollers.

 I knew from my studies that Germany was far ahead of the US in terms of weening itself off fossil fuels, but the trip through the countryside today reaffirmed that for me.  Entire towns had roofs covered with solar panels (these are in the fields because I cound't get a good shot of the houses).  And over every rise there were wind turbines sitting on the hill tops.

We were enjoying the ride and the pasture lands and woods, then passed through a very long tunnel and came out to this (FOG!) on the other side!

  

Geocaching in Germany

This crew went on a geocaching adventure this morning.  We were on the hunt for a cache that was large enough to safely leave a travel bug in.  It was a short walk from the train station over a lovely pedestrian bridge.

A still fall morning that we mostly shared with joggers ...

And Rowers...

This was at 10 am.  Can't believe how low the sun hangs on the horizon here in the winter.

The cache clue was "its between hole 13 and 14.  We knew where we were looking...

Can you spot it?  Its a cammo'd red magetic box in the iron work!

Traditional German Dinner

 Ended the day with a great dinner (at 3:00) at a traditional German restaurant.  Most of the group got Schnitzel.  I had the Barvarian equivalent of Mac and Cheese.  It was great to sit down after a full day of walking.

St Bartholomews Church

After visiting the Romer square, we headed toward St Bartholow's church.  The spire is very visible from all over the city.

It was very pretty inside, with the same red stone used on the exterior. 

The best part of all though was climbing the 333 stairs to the top of the spire for a view of the whole city!  Even with jetlag this was totally worth it!

Rathaus in the Romer square with the giant Christmas tree in front of it.

Old and New Town

This is the plaza where the group was standing for the photo in front of the church

We climbed round and round and round the staircase in the small spire that comes out of the middle of the scaffolding.

We were so lucky with the weather, slightly overcast, but about 44 degrees.  No wind. Great day for walking around the city.

After the cathedral, we walked across a pedestrian bridge that was covered in locks.  Great view of down town!

Walking Around the Alte Stadt

St Catherine's Church - the bells started chiming noon just as we arrived.  It was kind of odd because the sun was so low on the horizon it felt like 3 or 4 pm.

 We walked along the Main river past a huge play ground.  There were lots of local kids out playing.  These ones on the teeter totter reminded me of when our friends visited in Poland and Kelly balanced out Jenna and Delaney.

They had they vertical gardens all along the river walk. It obviously hasn't had a heavy frost because there are still lots of green plants growing.

Our favorite street musician of the day.  He was good!

In the Romer old square.  We didn't get the full unimpeded view of the plaza because it was full of Christmas market vendors, but it was still pretty to see. 

This was the giant Christmas tree  - over 3 stories high!

Inside St Nicholas' church on the square (circa 1400s)

Model UN heads to Germany

Model UN is on its way to Erfurt Germany for the NMUN conference.  ICT > DFW > Frankfurt. It's going to be a great trip!

Hostel close to the main train station.  Sizeable, clean rooms and polite service.