Deutschland!

Blogpost time!

I've been catching up on sleep all day, sorry this post is so late! So this week is Holy Week, or Semana Santa in Spanish, and we got the week off from school! Three of my friends Mattie, Laurel, and Chelsea, and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and go to Germany, France, and Belgium! We started off the trip late Thursday night/early Friday morning. We caught a 1 AM bus to Madrid (it's cheaper to fly out of Madrid than Sevilla). After a 6 hour, all-night ride to the city, we caught a taxi to the airport, where we first flew to Geneva, Switzerland. After a layover there, we flew to Zurich, Switzerland, and then finally to Stuttgart, Germany where our adventure really began!

Chelsea's brother (Brian) is in the US Army, and is stationed in Illesheim, Germany. He got the weekend off, so he came to meet us at the airport and took us to our hotel that night. Before we went to bed, we wandered over to a German restaurant to have dinner. I had spaetzle! I've eaten this at about a million Anthony family holiday dinners, but now I can say that I've had the authentic thing in Germany! The next morning, we woke up and drove to Illesheim, where Brian is stationed. It's a pretty non-descript town, with a rundown train station, but from there we caught a train into Nuremberg. I was super impressed with Germany's train system. Everything was very clean, and efficient. I felt completely safe the whole time. Mattie's wearing blue, Laurel's in black, and Chelsea's in green.

I absolutely LOVED Nuremberg. Brian told us that a lot of soldiers from his base go there on their day's off. I think it's what I've always pictured when I thought of Germany. It was very strange to not understand the language here, because I'm used to being surrounded by either Spanish or English. I've always wondered if I'd be any good at German since so much of my family is from there. It's so different from Spanish or English though!

We mostly just wandered the city, which was very nice. None of us spoke German, but most of the people we interacted with knew enough German that we could get by. Around lunchtime, we stopped into a bar and sampled some colaweizen. This is essentially beer mixed with Coca-Cola. I don't like beer or Coke, but I thought I might as well try it, and it was actually pretty good!

Nuremberg is also famous for its Bratwurst, so we sampled some of that as well! It's served on little rolls with spicy mustard.

We also stopped by St. Lorenz-Kirche (or St. Lawrence's Church), a beautiful, old, Gothic Lutheran church built between 1270-1350. There was a small exhibit inside about the destruction of some of the church during World War II.

We also stopped by the Nuremberg Castle as well, which was built around 1050. We didn't get to go inside, but we got some great views of the city!

After that, we caught the train back to Illesheim and drove back to our hotel in Stuttgart. The next morning, we set out for Leonberg, Germany. My father's mother's parents (my great-grandparents) grew up in this town before immigrating to America in the 1920s. I'm partially named in honor of my great-grandfather, Carl Stadelmann. The people that lived here that are related to me were called the Stadelmanns and the Wendels. Leonberg was pretty much the cutest little German town ever. My grandpa gave me the address of people who took care of my great-grandmother Wendel. It was kind of amazing to see that the house is still there! The day I visited also happened to be the anniversary of the death of my father. Even though he had never been to Germany, and didn't know anything about the town of Leonberg, I still felt closer to him there in the town of his ancestors.

For the rest of the day, we caught a train into downtown Stuttgart. I have to say, Stuttgart was not as exciting as Nuremberg or Leonberg. Apparently, most of the historic buildings were destroyed in World War II, so it just kind of looked like any modern city except that everything was in German. We still had lots of fun though!

Check back in on Tuesday for a report on the rest of my trip to France and Belgium! Until then,

Carly <3

Until Friday

Hello everyone! I'm currently in Strasbourg, France. I don't have my computer with me, so hopefully ill post on Friday when I get back!
Have a great week everyone!
Carly <3

Tourguide Carly!

My mother just pointed out to me that I hadn't posted this week! I must have hit "save" instead of "publish". Oops! This was a pretty good week.

It was so nice to have my mom and sister visit. It was very relaxing to have them around, and kind of fun playing tour guide.

We went to El Catedral de Sevilla in the middle of the week, and climbed La Giralda.

The Cathedral really is beautiful. I really like going to old churches, I think they have so much history. It's amazing what people were able to accomplish without the use of modern technology, and it often makes me question my dependence on it. 

The above three pictures are from the main part of the church. The main altarpiece is undergoing restoration, so the Altar de Plata in the first picture is used instead. The second and third picture are of the choir and the organ.

In addition to the church being beautiful, it also has a lot of history. The first picture above is from the Chapel of the Ancient Virgin, where Columbus prayed before his second voyage to the Americas. The second and third picture are of his tomb. There is some debate about whether he is actually buried here. According to his will, he wanted to be buried in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, and originally he was buried there. However, due to warfare, his remains were moved to Cuba. In 1900, Cuba gave his remains to Spain as a present. DNA testing has been done, and the remains are shown to be a 99.9% match to those of his son who is also buried in the Cathedral of Seville.

This painting, by Murillo, hangs in the Chapel of St. Anthony. Apparently, in the 1800s, someone cut the saint out of the picture and auctioned it off on the black market. Luckily, the person who purchased it returned it to the Cathedral.

After we finished in the Cathedral, we went up the Giralda. The tower of the Cathedral is named this because there is a weathervane on top, which moves with the wind. The spanish verb "girar" means to turn. It was very beautiful!

Our ticket to the Cathedral also gave us free entry to the Iglesia del San Salvador (or Church of the Savior). The whole church was completely covered from ceiling to floor with gold and decorations. It was probably even more elaborate than the Cathedral!

We also went to the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, or the bullfighting museum. We learned a lot about bullfighting, like that there are multiple matadors, and as many as 6 bulls can die in a fight.

We ended out the week with a flamenco performance! It was fun to play tour guide, and it was nice to have a reminder of home.

Next week is Semana Santa (or Holy Week), so we don't have school. I'm going to Switzerland, Germany, France, and Belgium with my friends! Until next week!

Carly <3

Connith, Carly, and Panda take on Sevilla!

Hello everyone!

This has been kind of a different week for me because my mom and sister are visiting! They got here on Sunday and I feel like a tourist all over again!

I started out the week before they got here with a visit to the Catedral de Sevilla, but I’m also going with them tomorrow, so I’ll hold off with pictures from that for now.

The next day, I went on a walking tour of my Triana neighborhood with Laura. Our first stop was the Rodrigo de Triana monument. Juan Rodrigo Bermejo was a Spanish sailor who sailed with Columbus in 1492. It was he who first caught sight of the New World, with a cry of “Tierra”! He hailed from Triana.

After that we headed to the Iglesia Santa Ana, the oldest church in Triana, built in 1246.

We also saw La Capilla de los Marineros, where many sailors prayed before their journey to the New 

World.

Next, we stopped by the Capillita del Carmen, a teeny tiny chapel next to the Puente de Isabel II, with an odd structure.

After that, we went to the Castillo de San Jorge, the ruins of the castle where the Spanish Inquisition was based. We were the only ones there and it was pretty creepy!

Later that afternoon, we crossed the river back into the main part of Sevilla to visit the Hospital La Caridad. It was founded in 1674 as a place for the elderly, homeless, and infirm. It still runs today. The main focus of our visit, however, was the church. Pretty much the whole thing is SMOTHERED in gold, art, and religious artifacts.

The next day, I headed to Sanlúcar de Barrameda with my interest group. Sanlúcar is a small coastal town in southwestern Spain, famous for the Barbadillo winery. We took a tour of the facility first where we got to see the HUGE barrels of fermenting grape juice before we tried some of the products, such as their white wine, and sherry.

Mom and Andie got here on Sunday, and we spent Monday wandering around the Alcázar and the accompanying gardens. It was built in the 14^th century by Pedro I who wanted to imitate the Muslim style of architecture but in a Christian way. This mix of styles led to the extravagance of the Alcázar.

Today, we went to the Museo del Baile Flameco (or the Flamenco Dance Museum). It was much more modern than many of the museums I’ve been to so far, with many interactive displays. Here, we saw many of the traditional flamenco costumes worn by some of the most famous flamenco dancers.

I’m enjoying having Mom and Andie here until Saturday!

Hasta Luego!

Carly <3