My favourite place in the vicinity of Alex's house is definitely the Tierpark in Donsbach, This is a gorgeous little nature park full of various kinds of deer, as well as some wild pigs and goats. What makes the park so great is that the animals aren't shy, and they come right to the edge of their enclosures to eat food (sold all around the park) right out of your hand.
My favourite animals at the park are the mufflons, because there is an adorable baby who loves to be petted.
When Alex returned from France, we returned to our task of exploration, beginning with the nearby town of Marburg. The town is beautiful and the views from its castle on top of a hill are incredible.
What made the town so strange was the fact that the old and new parts are on completely different levels, and you take a lift to go between them! Not quite sure whose idea that was.
The next day we ventured a little further to Germany's 4th largest city: Cologne. The city is very popular with musicians, which meant that wherever you went there were hugely talented buskers. We spent the first half of the day wandering around the city with pretzel, visiting a very fancy art exhibition (the significance of which was mostly lost on me), and joining the tourists at Germany's most visited landmark: Cologne Cathedral.
After being very historical and sophisticated, we then went in search of the real reason I wanted to visit Cologne, which is its chocolate museum. It houses a miniature Lindt chocolate factory, complete with chocolate fountain, and a nice lady who hands out chocolatey wafers.
Definitely well worth a visit if you ever get the chance!
One of the major benefits of my stay being prolonged because of Alex's work was that I got to overlap with Hugo's visit to Germany! It was so much fun seeing him again and having the three of us back together, and it also meant that we took the opportunity to visit Alex's university home of Darmstadt. The town is much as you'd expect from a very studenty area, and of course, because we had a visitor, it rained the whole time we were there.
But that didn't dampen the fun, especially because the day after our arrival was the semi-final of the World Cup. Anyone with a vague awareness of how the tournament went this year will know why this day turned out to be so momentous. Having all headed out to the pub over an hour before kick off (to ensure a seat), dressed to the nines in Germany shirts, flowers and flags, we were treated to an unbelievable 7-1 victory! The atmosphere in the pub was electric, and as soon as the final whistle blew, the whole town took to the streets in celebration. We ended up being herded into a tunnel in the city centre which had been closed to cars and was completely crammed with overjoyed supporters waving flags, banging drums, blowing whistles and leading chants.
We then went to Hugo's favourite Darmstadt pub, and one of the only survivors of World War 2, The Crown. Its major attraction is the table football room, and the night being as it was, we didn't end up leaving that room until 3:30am!
Naturally, the next day was somewhat of a rest day, although we did manage to get out and see Darmstadt's famous finger building.
To make up for it, we made the next day more productive by taking a day trip to Heidelberg. This is one of the more beautiful towns I've seen in Germany, but unfortunately it is overrun with tourists, which means it feels a lot less peaceful than it should. The castle was gorgeous in any case, as were the views from it.
For us, the natural choice for the World Cup final had to be Frankfurt. Hugo had a plane to catch the day after, which meant we had to be very organised with packing and planning, but we managed! It was good to be back in Frankfurt again, and as the game drew nearer it was clear that the streets were overrunning with eager fans. The public viewing at the 50,000 capacity stadium was long sold out, and we were lucky to get a seat 2 hours before kick off, as almost every pub was fully booked. We ended up in a shisha bar which gave out free wreaths of flowers and clappy hands, so we looked more Germany than ever before. The game itself was agony, but you could hear the goal celebrations for miles around when Germany finally made it. As soon as the whistle blew everyone went insane! There were hundreds of people crammed into the tiny streets around where we were, chanting and waving and smiling, and blocking traffic! One guy decided it would be fun to start the party on top of a bus, and pretty soon there were 20 or 30 people joining him, who had to be pulled off by the police! We headed for the city centre where thousands of people were gathered, and the atmosphere was just indescribable.
Saying goodbye to Hugo the next day was a very sad and sleepy occasion, but we were grateful to have got him to the airport on time!
Our next big trip was to Nuremberg, where Alex's dad has an apartment for his work during the week. On our way we stopped off at the little town of Rothenburg, which was very old and has a walkable wall running the whole way round its perimeter.
It turns out the area we were in, called Franken, has many amazing beers, and we picked up a crate of my favourite on our way to the apartment. Tragically, the fridge was broken, which meant that our poor beers suffered terribly and had to be kept soaking in cold water in the sink.
For our first day in Nuremberg, Alex took me to a point of interest, named:
A bit of a mouthful, but to those of us who are not fluent in 23 letter words, it was basically a large museum detailing Hitler's rise to power, and subsequent demise. After a few hours in a museum which was just as informative as it was depressing, we went for a wander around the surrounding Nazi parade grounds and rally centres. Most of it is now in ruins, apart from the building which has been thoughtfully transformed into a Burger King.
The next day was a little more cheery, as we went to see the city centre! So much of what is now there is reconstruction from the 50s, because the city was so badly hit during the war. But it is a gorgeous place to be, and the churches in particular have been very carefully pieced back together.
The next day we moved on south to Munich to visit an old friend of Alex's, and he took us out to a great pub, again with table football! We made friends with strangers and somehow ended up staying past closing time until about 6am, which I haven't done for a while!
6 hours sleep and a 6 and a half hour drive was pretty exhausting, especially for Alex, so we've spent the week since then relaxing in the countryside and catching up on sleep.
A couple of days ago we visited a castle which is perched on top of the highest local peak, offering some pretty amazing views.
But now its down to the miserable task of packing as I prepare for the journey back, and for facing the reality of the end of my year abroad. It's hard to believe that I've been away from the U.K. a full 11 months (minus visits), and that I've had the opportunity to see and do so many things that I had never imagined possible. This has been by far the most challenging and rewarding year of my life, and I hope I don't sound too cheesy by wanting to thank each and every person who contributed to making it that way. It's difficult to face leaving this all behind, but at the same time I'm so excited to be back with my family and friends in England. I've missed you all so much!
Goodbye year abroad, it's been an honour,
Sarah
xx
