Celts Exhibition and Vapiano Restaurant ... with Children!

Yesterday I went on a long-planned excursion, together with my friends Simone and Dominik and their children Xavier and Noëlle. Simone, Dominik and I are members of the Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium's "Class of 1996"; a Gymnasium being the type of secondary school that grants university admission. Since our friendship goes back such a long time, I was offered to become the godfather of their first child, an honor I gladly accepted (however, not without pointing out that, being a skeptic, I may not be the prime choice for this duty).
After being away in Berlin (2004-2008) and Chicago (2008-2010) I am quite happy that I am currently able to spend a lot more time with Xavier, and of course also with Noëlle. Often I just pass by their house when I go out, but this time we actually had an appointment - we had planned for a long time to see the Celts exhibition at the nearby town of Völklingen. The top left photo shows the four of them on the train. Taking the train was a prudent choice, since we could have a little walk in our hometown (St. Ingbert) to reach the station, and at Völklingen the exhibition site was right next to the station there. The top right photo shows the outside of the place, which is actually an UNESCO World Heritage in its own right. Decades ago, our region used to be an industrial hotspot, producing tons of charcoal and steel, but having found no worthwile replacement, we currently have significant problems with unemployment. (Ultimately, if there were more high technology companies, I might have found a job myself already.) So, this World Heritage site is a now-defunct steel factory, which you can see on the bottom left photo. Actually, this was a suitable idea, because the Celts were the Iron Age people of Europe. Yet, as I have learned, there was never a coherent Celtic culture, and they didn't perceive themselves as one people, but rather as independent tribes with significant differences among them; the main thing they had in common was actually the ability of making items from iron. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures inside the exhibition, because it didn't appear I was permitted to do so. Anyways, it was worth the money, and I am glad we went there.
Actually, we were accompanied by Maria and Wolfram (friends of Simone's and Dominik's), their son Jannis, and his friend Valeria. That means we were a group with four children, the oldest of which (Xavier) will turn 8 this summer. For the little ones the exhibition maybe wasn't the excitement of their lifetimes, but I don't think they were having an outspokenly bad time, either. Nevertheless, they obviously liked the next stop much better - the Vapiano restaurant at Saarbrücken, which is about half-way back to St. Ingbert. We had some Italian refreshments (pasta, pizza, salad), and even though I would translate Vapiano as "tread lightly", the kids had all the action there that they couldn't have at the Celts exhibition ... The bottom right photo shows everyone at the dinner table.
Anyways, it was a great day, and I would prefer to do more trips of this kind!

Nina's Birthday Party (Merzbach), Porta Nigra (Trier)

Yesterday I went on a day trip to visit my old friend Nina, her husband Jörg and their baby boy, Moritz. Much to my own shame I must confess that I did not attend Nina's and Jörg's wedding, because it took place while I was in Chicago. (Likewise, I skipped another friend's wedding for the same reason, and since she also had a baby boy recently, I may go on another trip soon(ish), and I will then report on that, too ... Ironically, my friend Homa from Chicago is getting married these days, and I was forced to turn down her invitation as well.)
Nina (to the left in the top left photo) and I became friends in college. We both were chemistry majors in Kaiserslautern (which you may find on the map of Germany that shows my travel route a bit to the east of the starting point near Saarbrücken), and so were in fact most people you see on the first photo. Not all of them were in our year, but Britta and Stephanie ("Steffi") were. Britta is the blonde holding Moritz (I apologize for using the wrong shutter setting for this shot), and Steffi is the brunette watching over the snoozing baby.
Nina, Steffi and Britta form an interesting triangle. Nina and Steffi go back a long way, having been even high school class mates. If I remember correctly, chemistry wasn't the first choice for either one, but that's what they ended up with. (In the first two years they were roommates.) Going with chemistry apparently didn't hurt them too much, I guess, since both met their husbands. Britta, on the other hand, was Nina's companion in Glasgow, Scotland, for one semester abroad; an adventure I was also a part of. Steffi and Britta later went on to do a PhD in physical chemistry with the same advisor (I left that group for Berlin after the final undergraduate thesis), while Nina did hers in organic chemistry.
Now, yesterday's journey of mine began as early as 6:30 am, when I left the house to walk to the train station. At around 7, I hopped on the first train, which took me as far as Saarbrücken ... only a 10 mile ride. After a ten minute layover, I hopped on another train to Trier, which took 90 minutes, and where I had a full hour wait until I could continue. From Trier I went on to Euskirchen. There I only had to cross the platform, where the last train to Rheinbach was already preparing for its departure. Since I was a little early for the party, I had a snack at that train station, until I took a bus to Merzbach, where Nina, Jörg and Moritz currently reside. Total duration, one way: seven hours. I stayed at the party for about three hours ... then I had to leave to be home without spending a night at a train station in the goonies. Jörg gave me a ride back to Rheinbach, and guess what? The train I was supposed to take from there was cancelled! That meant an extra 30 min wait before I could ride back to Euskirchen (only 15 min). There I found, much to my relief, that a train to Trier would leave soon, and be there at 8 pm. From there trains depart for Saarbrücken every hour until very late (and more than a few actually go as far as Homburg or Kaiserslautern for which they have to pass through my hometown, St. Ingbert).
In Trier, I was stalled for another hour, so I decided to do a quick sight seeing trip. Trier happens to be the oldest settlement in Germany, being founded more than 2,000 years ago by the Romans. The so-called Porta Nigra (or Black Gate), has been left by them and can be visited. It is located only a few minutes from the train station in Trier (which the Romans used to call Augusta Treverorum), so I decided to seize the day and take a few pictures. (I am sharing my favorite with you on the bottom left.) - Eventually, I rode to Saarbrücken, and since this train does go to Homburg, but not on Saturdays, I had another final layover there.
When you look at the map, you will find my traveling route indicated. I find it a bit ridiculous that was on the train(s) for five hours one way, when the net traveling time was actually only 3.5 hours. But there are two problems: first, I used the so-called Happy Weekend Ticket (39 €), by which you can use all short-distance trains on one weekend day (which must be designated prior to the trip). You may even bring a long a few others, but the ticket must be signed, so the holder must be present and cannot pass the ticket on to someone else when he doesn't need it anymore.
The second problem is that there weren't any long distance trains available that would go, say, from Saarbrücken to Cologne on my route, because (I think) those can't used the existing tracks. Taking long distance trains would have deviated me so much that the trip would have been only (much) more expensive, but not faster.
I wish they would introduce a fast connection from Saarbrücken to Cologne, or at least make the layovers significantly shorter, but another problem is that there are more hills than population between Trier and Euskirchen/Cologne, so this will probably remain wishful thinking in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, I had an awesome day, and it was particularly nice to reunite with so many friends, even for just a short time. Additionally, the weather improved a lot throughout yesterday, from rainy-gray to spring-like. I think I have to see them again soon, also because it has just occurred to me that I didn't taste any of Nina's father's products yesterday - the man runs his own vineyard!

Family Reunion

Recently it was my father's birthday. For an appropriate celebration of this event we went to a nice local restaurant. We, meaning my father, my mother, myself, and my sister Katharina (yes, "the Great", just like Alexander "the Great"). I don't get to see my sister very often, as she lives now in Hamburg, at the North Sea, which is about 500 miles north from our town. In fact, this was the first time I saw her in the flesh since I had returned from the United States. (Ironically, she is currently pursuing a degree in psychology, which has more to do with the mind than the flesh ...)
The restaurant we went to is called Die alte Brauerei, or The Old Brewery. I don't have a definitive proof, but it seems very obvious that the building used to house the facilities of the Becker brewery, our local beer brand, which later got merged with a larger competitor (from Homburg, the capital of our county, so it was still a local product) and was eventually discontinued. The newer facilities of the Becker brewery are located just across the main street, which is called Kaiserstraße, or Emperor's road, after Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte; note that the German Kaiser and the Latin Caesar are cognates. The Kaiserstraße is nowadays a second-tier highway (and as such is has a general speed limit of 100 km/h, unlike the German Autobahn), but already back in the 19th century it connected Paris, France, with Mainz, now a state capital in central Germany (next to Frankfurt).
The restaurant itself is above everyday lunch category, at least for my budget, and also my parents'. Nevertheless, the ambient gives it a distinct down-to-earth feel, while on the other hand the French owners and waiters add the right amount of out-of-the-ordinary. As you can see from the top picture, the part that faces Kaiserstraße has an archway through which the yard and the actual restaurant are reached. Note the timber framing (middle picture) - it really is an old building.
Finally (bottom picture), you can see the other three members of my immediate family sitting on one table, waiting for the feast to begin. - My mother suggested that we go there again once I found a new employment.

"Bratäpfel"

The original purpose of the Owl's Nest was to share my American experience with my friends in Europe and elsewhere. However, today I would like to talk a little about my European life; namely I would like to present my parents. The man with the hat and the the headphones is my father; he is having breakfast in the early morning of the second Advent sunday. He likes music a lot, and he was my initial guitar teacher, so he wears the headphones a lot, also when he cleans the house, for instance. The lady below is my mother, sitting on her desk. Note the little web cam on top of the monitor: it was used to chat with me over Skype while I was in the United States. Unfortunately my own web cam and also my headset recently broke, so I got to use theirs to chat with my friends back in Chicago. (This web cam has a built-in microphone, so I only need to use my own headphones in order to avoid feedback effects.)
Finally, the bottom picture displays a special treat my mother prepared for me a few weeks ago: Bratäpfel (fried apples). You know all very well that I like to stress on language topics, and here is another one: "braten" means "to fry", and "Apfel" means "apple". As I have mentioned before, all German nouns are capitalized, and we tend to agglutinate them; also if the second part in English is actually an adjectiv. There are virtually no limits for how many nouns can be glued together. One famous example (that is used to impress those who learn German as a foreign language) is Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmütze ... Donau = the river Danube, Dampf = steam, Schifffahrt = ship navigation, Kapitän = captain, Mütze = hat. (Note the additional letter s before Kapitän - in some sense it works as the glue between the enclosing parts.)
Oh, but I got carried away a little, so back to the Bratäpfel. There are also two dots on the letter ä, which changes the pronunciation a bit; from close to the u in "but" to close to the a in "many". While the plural is always indicated by a final s in English, there are more than a handful ways to do it in German, not counting combinations. Adding a letter s works for some nouns, changing a vowel a/o/u to ä/ö/ü, respectively, for others. Unfortunately there are no clear rules, so anyone who dares learn German must memorize the plural forms of all the nouns. Really, I prefer eating Bratäpfel than studying their silly German grammar!

Happy New Year

Dear all,

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year 2011, with good health, good luck, and lots of happiness!

I did not really celebrate the beginning of this new year, but I certainly have great hopes in 2011. It be the year in which I find employment. So, I do not have any photos from the fireworks that welcomed the new year, but I took some on Christmas Eve. Complying with a request from a friend, I give you: our Christmas tree the moment all the candles were lit, the dinner table just before the feast, and the kitchen table with the starters. Our annual ceremony comprises the singing of a few Christmas carols, followed by the wishing well, and the gift giving. It only takes about 20 min, because the candles on the tree are real, so we do not want to let them set the tree on fire. (In fact, I had to ask to have a few of them re-lit, so I could take this picture properly.) I am afraid, though, that my camera was not expensive enough to fully capture the beauty of all the burning candles in an otherwise dark room.
As soon as the candles are extinguished (using a special spoon that only serves this purpose), we switch on the light and proceed to the dinner table (which is just to the right of the tree, but you cannot see it in the top picture). My mother is a very talented cook, and on Christmas Eve she usually outdoes herself! (Hail to the chef!) The shrimp puff pastries you see on the bottom picture, which we had as starters, were outstandingly awesome! (Okay, I just made that up, but it was so good that it does deserve a bit of linguistic creativity.) The ensuing main dish (Beef Stroganoff, Spätzle, and Rotkraut (shredded red cabbage)) did not fall short of it. - It may be a stereotype that Germans eat a lot of kraut, but I see Rotkraut as slightly more sophisticated than Sauerkraut, and it is served as a side dish to meat as fancy as game. (Sauerkraut goes well with simpler dishes such as a sausage.) Anyways, we used to have a different tradition until last year, but this one is healthier. Still, we had a final treat: plums cooked in plum spirit, served with vanilla ice cream. I did have nice Christmas celebrations the two antecedent years, but there ain't no place like home!
You see four chairs on the table - my father sat on the far end, and I was across the table from him. My mother sat to my right, and my only remaining grandparent, my paternal grandmother (who lives in a separate apartment in our house) , to my left.
On Boxing Day, as the British call it (Dec 26), I visited my godson Xavier and his sister Noëlle, whose parents Dominik and Simone invited me over. The parents are high school friends of mine and actually the only people I still keep in touch with on a regular basis from those times. (I exchange notes with other people more randomly, though.)
In total I am quite happy with my gifts. Among other things, I got a painting (hand made by seven-year old Xavier - amazing!), a pretty hefty puzzle cube, and an acoustic bass guitar. The latter has been my wish for some time, so I mentioned it when my mother asked me what I would like Santa to bring for me. I must have been a very good child this past year, or maybe I am just a totally spoiled brat! Either way, I love my new instrument, but it is more difficult than I thought to carry my (anyway rather mediocre) guitar skills over to playing the bass. But I only have it for a bit more than a week, so I need to be patient ... However, do not expect any demonstration before the year 2020!

The Owl Has Landed

... or should I say: the Owl's Nest is temporarily the Sloth's Lair. Now that I am reunited with my parents, I am also unemployed. Therefore, I have some time to stroll around my old hometown, which is actually "old" in a double sense. I grew up here, but it is also older than one millenium. St. Ingbert, as it is know today, was mentioned in an official document for the first time in the year 888. Which makes one wonder how Chicago could grow to almost 100 times the size of St. Ingbert in so much less time ...
Anyways, I think I had a great childhood and youth in St. Ingbert, and it is worth the notion that it was the education I received here at the local primary and secondary schools that ultimately enabled me to go to Berlin for a doctorate, and then to Chicago for even more scientific research. And for that reason I would like to share a collection of the pictures I have takes after my return.
A - my parents' house, but not my parents' car. (They drive a Citroën, a French car.)
B - the tower of the church of St. Joseph. The roof went up in flames in 2007, and they are still rebuilding it.
C - one end of the pedestrian zone. I do not remember seeing pedestrian zones in any U.S. city I have visited. I do remember this street before it became part of the pedestrian zone.
D - I was laughing so hard! Delusions of grandeur are an integral part of the nature of Germans, especially when it comes to a comparison with the United States. (But that is a different story.) Note that Germany is slightly smaller than Montana alone, and that my home area in Germany (Saarland, after the river Saar) is even smaller than Rhode Island.
E - the church of St. Engelbert, who is called St. Ingobertus in Latin. This hermit is my town's namesake. The legends make him a descendant of Irish or Scottish nobility. In case of the former, I would have a genuine right to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Chicago!
F - a pond in the park. I used to feed the ducks with my paternal grandmother when I was a toddler. (Sadly, it is now her who cannot walk so well.)
G - the office building and chimney of the former Becker brewery. These are two landmarks of my hometown, even though the facility is now defunct.
H - a fast food booth with a long tradition. Formerly owned by a guy everyone knows as "Schleppi", this is the place in town for a "brat" from the grill.
I - a view across the valley of St. Ingbert, from the old cemetary, which is actually called the Old Cemetary. The other burial area is the larger and newer Forest Cemetary at the town limits, where there is a significant amount of forest indeed.
J - the creek in the park. Being another indication of delusion, it is called the "Grand Creek" ("Großbach").
K-N - a column at my old high school, where the class of 1996 wrote down their names. I can be found as "Alex U." on M. - The school is called Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium, which is an example for how words have evolved to different meanings. The greek parent meant a place where both body and mind could be exercized. The English language has maintained the former, and the German language the latter meaning. Note that a Gymnasium (which is capitalized because all German nouns, proper or not, are always capitalized) is the highest tier of secondary schools and the principal road to university access. Other tiers lead to vocational training and take less years. - The degree conferred by a Gymnasium that grants access to tertiary education is called Abitur; hence the "Abilympics" theme of the decoration.
O - a stone that commemorates the tenth anniversary of the town twinning between St. Ingbert and St. Herblain in France. That is remarkable because France and Germany used to be arch-enemies, which originates from a post-Charlemagne rivalry. Charlemagne, who considered himself the heir of the Western Roman Empire, crowned himself Emperor of the Franks in the year 800, thus ruling over much of what is today Germany and France. His three sons then fought each other to reunite the Empire, but they only got as far as eliminating the one brother in the center. Over the centuries the fight was continued on several occasions, including Napoleon's conquest of central and eastern Europe and both World Wars. Since I am a fan of France and currently live as close as ten miles from the Franco-German border, I am quite happy about this new approach.
So much for the places of my youth. The show must go on of course, and I am in the middle of a job hunt right now. Therefore, this is not a sloth's lair, despite the allusion at the outset, and that is not just because sloths do not live in lairs.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

... don't know when I'll be back again. That's the chorus of an old John Denver song (which he performs here with a cool 12-string guitar I wish I could call my own).
I'm finally back home in Germany, after almost two years abroad. I left Chicago, my home away from home, on September 3, 2010. However, I did not return to Germany from there, but I did a little detour via Washington, DC and New York City, NY. This also gave me the opportunity to reunite with some friends of mine. Lucky me had Heather (accompanied of course by Jon) as a tour guide in DC - Heather is the most organized person I have had the pleasure to know, and she planned the entire trip to the most minute detail in advance, which worked out perfectly. I got to see the following places: the Iwo Jima monument (on my own), the White House, the National Mall and the many presidential and war memorials in and around it, the Smithsonian museum of American history, the National Archives (with the originals of the Declaration of Indepence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution)), the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, Congress (also the visitor center inside), and finally (after Heather's and Jon's departure) Arlington National Cemetary and the Pentagon. This was a very intense weekend (extended by Labor Day), and it would be impossible to show you all the nice photos I was able to take. Thus, I was having a hard time picking out my absolute favorites, but finally I came up with a selection. Also included are photos from my subsequent stay in NYC, from where I ultimately left the United Stated "for good" - for now. I actually met another friend from Berlin in NYC: Dr. Björn Brandt, who pursued his doctorate together with me.
Here is a description of the photos (A-D in DC, E-L in NYC):
A - the White House (front view). It is a bummer that I was not fast enough to get this photo with the (presumed) Secret Service agent on the central pediment.
B - the Washington Monument from up close. The obelisk is as tall as 170 m! It is sourrounded by many American flags.
C - the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool. (Yes, the pool ist there to produce a mirror image of the Washington Monument.)
D - the Vietnam War Memorial. The right part is aligned with the Washington Monument, and the left part is aligned with the Lincoln Memorial, which we also visited, but is not depicted here.
E - the Chysler Building. It is my favorite building in Manhattan. When I first saw a picture of it a long time ago I thought it was something like a citation of the Empire State Building's architecture. But in fact the Chrysler Building is even older by about one year.
F - the Empire State Building. It is named after the Empire State, also known as the State of New York, in which the City of New York is located. It is currently the tallest building in New York City, until the new World Trade Center is completed; probably around 2020.
G - the Statue of Liberty. I took this picture from the Staten Island Ferry, which is free, and passes close enough by the statue that I considered a separate trip to Liberty Island a redundancy.
H - the Unisphere. It is a globe of the size of a twelve-story building, located in Flushing Meadows. That is where the U.S. Open tennis tournament is held, and they were actually playing while I was there.
I - view from the Empire State Building at night, toward Lower Manhattan. I highly recommend visiting the Empire State Building at night. It is open until 2 am (the last elevator goes up at 1:15 am). I was there at around 10 pm, and the "legendary long" lines at the entrance (ticket, security and elevator!) were actually not long at all. Plus, the view at night is just so much more stunning! I actually went up to both the 86th and 102nd floor observatories.
J - "Tribute in Light". Every anniversary of 9/11 two giant spotlights commemorate the destroyed twin towers.
K - the beach at Coney Island. This was my first encounter with the Atlantic in two years. And I was about to cross it to go home.
L - the Brooklyn Bridge. The Manhattan Bridge is just behind it.
The video shows the panorama of the site known as "Ground Zero" on September 11, 2010, at around 6:30 pm.
I would like to point out that I visited all five boroughs of the City of New York: I arrived in Manhattan by train (Amtrak) from DC, I stayed in Brooklyn in a motel, I went to Queens to see the Unisphere, I took the ferry to Staten Island (and stayed for about half an hour, until the next ferry took me back to Manhattan), and I went to the Bronx to photograph the New York Yankees Stadium.
After all this sightseeing I was completely exhausted and ready to fly home from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Düsseldorf (Germany) International Airport, where a close friend of mine picked me up and gave me a ride to my parents' hometown.