Day Three in Munich, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau

Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's fairy tale castle, was todays goal. We hiked a beautiful path with the most amazing, breathtaking views up to the castle and then enjoyed a very interesting tour in English of the finished parts of the castle. As we were starting our descend it started pouring and we were lucky to wait out the downpour in an excellent restaurant, just in time for an exquisite late lunch. Hmmmm, that German food!

Day one and two in Munich

When we arrived in Munich and after checking into our Youth Hostel we went on an informal city tour led by Frau Wipp and to the Olympiastadium that was built for the Summer Olympic Games in 1974. On Friday we went on a very moving tour of Dachau (We had an excellent guide and learned a lot about the Holocaust!). Many people there complemented us on the respectful behavior of our students!
In the evening we went swimming at the Olympic Pool.

Thursday 7/15/10

I will let the pictures speak for our tearful good-byes this morning at the Goeppingen train station! Thanks to all the wonderful German families who hosted us and did such a great job making us feel welcome. Thanks also to Frau Wasnick and Herr Moebius for organizing all the great activities we got to participate in here in Goeppingen! Auf Wiedersehen!

Wednesday 7/14/10

Today is our last day at school. We will practice our presentations 'How strange are strangers' and then give them in German (!) in front of an audience of students and teachers...
Tonight we'll have a good bye celebrations with all the students, their parents and the teachers involved in the GAPP exchange.
We'll leave for Munich early tomorrow morning and since I don't know the internet situation at the Youth Hostel yet, I can't promise any updates during that time. I will however make sure all the updates are completed during the week of our return.
Hope you enjoyed following our journey so far and see you all again very soon.

Tuesday 7/13/10

The second to our last day of school here at the Freihof Gymnasium. Today we worked on our presentations "How strange are strangers" which will be presented tomorrow to German students and faculty. Our German partners helped with the translations. One more day here and we are off to Munich...it will be hard to say good bye to our new friends!

Monday 7/12/10

Today we had a blast canoeing on the Iller and Danube near Ulm. Most of us had absolutely no prior experience with canoeing before. We all made it, some more wet than others. It was a special treat when we arrived in the center of Ulm facing the gothic cathedral after canoeing for about two hours.

The heat is on...

We are up in the 90s again, except it is so much more humid here than in Spokane when it gets that hot, so the heat feels much more intense...We are sweating! Nevertheless, the kids did a great job at the Basketball game last night. They got fourth place. Although we definitely had some star players (Alec and Logan...) the team spirit was what amazed me most about this group. We had some kids fighting pretty hard that have not played B-ball since elementary school:) Everyone is off to an exciting weekend with their host families. Back to school on Monday morning for two periods, then on to Ulm for a canoe trip and a city tour.

Thursday 7/8/10

I can't believe 'we' (Germany) lost the soccer game yesterday, how disappointing. Alec didn't seem to mind though, hence he was wearing his soccer gear out again today:)
We got the chance to accompany an art class of the Freihof Gymnasium to a modern art exhibit this morning in Fellbach. After an amazing guided tour of the exhibit, we went to Stuttgart where a Freihof history teacher offered his services and gave us an exquisit historical tour of Stuttgart. He has published several books on the subject and was incredibly interesting to listen to. He gave his tour in English! Very impressive!
After that, there was some time for shopping, but most everyone was ready to return to Goeppingen at around 3PM due to the heat. Another nice day in Deutschland, we are so lucky!