We got up early this morning to catch a train at 9:21. We got on the train (correct class this time too!) and rode it to another city called Bonn. Bonn happens to be the birthplace of Beethoven. I wasn't really excited about this tour, but it ended up being really cool. I'll get to that in a second, though. We got to Beethoven's house a little early (that' the picture above of the pink house), and we were really cold so we tried to find a place warm where we could get something warm to drink. That was an adventure in and of itself since it is Sunday and everything is closed before noon. Eventually, Dr. Sofer found a place for us, rescuing us from the cold. We went in and sat down and everyone ordered something warm. I ordered a hot chocolate (since I don't much care for coffee) and it was some of the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Once we were finished with it, Patrick and I came up with a collaborative quote: "There is nothing worse than an empty cup of good stuff" which seemed very deep, and funny at the time.
After the Beethoven museum, we went back to the little coffee shop/ diner that we went to earlier so that we could get lunch. I got a grilled cheese sandwich that was made with a white cheese that I can't remember for the life of me. But, there was also pickles on it and a white sauce I think was mayonnaise. But it was delicious anyway! I also had this drink called Orangina Rouge, which tasted like a orange soda with a touch of grapefruit in it. It was quite tasty. Everyone had a good lunch, at least as far as I can tell, since the portions of food are so larger here and everyone is still not used to it, I got to try most of everyone's food. It all tasted good to me :D
It was at this point (after lunch) that we had a decision to make. There were two museums that different groups of people wanted to go to. There was an art museum and there was a science and math museum (it had some art in it also that was influenced by math and science) So, we split up and went to the separate museums. Catherine, Karen, Dr. Ribble and I went to the sciency one and everyone else went to the art museum. I think I got the better end of the deal though, just because almost everything there was interactive and made a great learning environment. They had cool exhibits of old calculators that operated by gears and there was even one from really long ago that was operated by weights and counter-weights and pulleys. They also had some interesting art that I got some pictures of. Into the sciency part, they had a whole area dedicated to computers and computer chips and stuff like that. It was really interesting and I got a cool picture of the inside of what appeared to be a cabinet to a super computer. Plus, I got a picture of a big silicon crystal that they make microchips out of (the one I got a picture of could make over 100,000 chips). One of the most interesting things they had there,however, was the Enigma encryption machine that was famous back in WWII. I have that picture up above because it was so awesome! I'm such a nerd...
Anyway, we left that museum at about 5:00 and headed back to the train station. We found the right train and everything without the help of Dr. Sofer, who we have basically relied on to get us on the right train. After we got back, we all met up and some of us went out to find some dinner. Dr. Ribble, Dr. Sofer, Karen, and I went out together and went back to where we found our 3rd geocache. Coincidence? I think not! ;) Anyway, we found this little gelato place that also served some food. I got a ham sandwich that had mozzarella cheese on it. It was very tasty. I also got a water to save some money (water isn't free here though!) and it tasted very odd to me. Karen tried it and she said it tasted fine to her, but I still think that it was different than water from home. Maybe it was actually pure and missing all the chlorine and stuff... I don't know, but it was weird and I wont get water anymore. After our food, I also got a gelato :) I got two scoops, one was yogurt flavored and I paired it with a flavor called morena ( I think that's what it was anyway) and it was basically vanilla with raspberry gelatin in it. It was a good choice on my part, I think.
I ate my gelato on our way back to the hostel where we had our evening meeting. We discussed plans for tomorrow, which include getting a train at 9:55 tomorrow to go to (4 hour ride!) Munich and hang out there until we take a bus to Grainau where we will be staying for a few days. I really am not sure of the internet there since Grainau is a tiny little town and we are staying in host houses. It's kinda like people are renting out their rooms to us from their houses, well, not kinda, that's what it is. So, hopefully I will have internet tomorrow night (hoping for an internet cafe at the best) to continue posting, but if I don't find internet, no posting.
Until I write to you all again, Auf Wiedersehen, and Goodnight!
Houston Miller http://theadventuresofhouston.blogspot.com/