Boston!

Last Tuesday, I made the long trip across the Atlantic to travel to Boston! Somehow, this Bostonian has never managed to walk the entire Freedom Trail, a “2.5 mile path that leads to 16 of America’s most significant historical landmarks.” So Wednesday morning, I got up bright and early (around 10 AM) to reacquaint myself with one of America’s greatest cities.

I convinced my youngest brother Joe to accompany me. My other brother, Richard, who rumor has it is going to be living in Battell, had to lifeguard. On the way to Oak Grove, the T stop closest to my house, Joe and I ran into none other than my friend Ben, who readers of this blog will remember visited me in Berlin. I invited him to come along, but wearing formal attire in 90 degree heat, Ben looked like he was ready to step into a cold shower instead. So Joe and I continued on our way and got on an orange line train heading south. There are two big differences I noticed between local trains in Boston and Germany. First, German trains are a lot smoother and second, I have never heard the conductor yell “the platform is not a playground” over the loudspeakers in Germany. Anyway, we arrived at Park Street in good time and after picking up a map at a visitors’ center, we started off on the red brick road.

The Freedom Trail begins in Boston Common. Joe (who I convinced to be my tour guide) told me some cool facts about America’s oldest public park from the brochure we picked up. Then, we walked up the hill to the State House and cooled down inside the air-conditioned Park Street Church. Next on the route was Granary Burying Ground, the first of three burying grounds we would encounter. The old dates inscribed on these tombstones rivaled even those of cemeteries I had visited in Europe. Afterward, we saw King’s Chapel and the Old City Hall. I really liked how the former had been preserved in the midst of modern day skyscrapers and the latter had a cool sidewalk mosaic marking the former location of Boston Latin, America’s first public school. Just down the street from there was the Old Corner Bookstore, a literary center in the mid-1800s, and the Old South Meeting House, which served as a public forum prior to the start of the Revolution. Then, Joe and I walked by the Old State House, outside of which the Boston Massacre took place. Ever since elementary school, I always remember finding it odd that the event was called a “massacre.” The deaths of five people are indeed a tragedy, but calling it a massacre was surely more for the sake of propaganda than historical accuracy. After Faneuil Hall, one of Boston’s best known landmarks, Joe and I took a moment to visit the Holocaust Memorial, not an official stop on the Freedom Trail, but an important reminder nonetheless of what happens when freedom and responsibility are taken out of the picture. One responsible man (along with two oft forgotten companions) took it upon himself to warn colonists that the “British [were] coming”. His name was Paul Revere and his house and the Old North Church were next on the route. I still remember visiting the Paul Revere House back in fourth grade. The best part was eating lunch as a class in the North End afterward. Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is the final stop of the Freedom Trail before one crosses the Charlestown Bridge and then if one is feeling really ambitious, one can walk all the way over to the USS Constitution and then up to the Bunker Hill Monument. I was feeling really ambitious and Joe seemed content with going along for the ride. Needless to say, we both were pretty worn out by the time we finally stumbled into Community College station to head home.

As the train rattled back to Oak Grove, I wondered, “was it really worth it to walk the Freedom Trail?” Maybe if I had done it alone, no. But when I looked over at Joe, calmly reading a book beside me, I knew I had made the right decision. Because at a certain point, all the old buildings and monuments lose their appeal and you remember that it isn’t the sights you see or the food you eat that make an experience memorable. It’s the people you’re with. Sure, it’s great exploring a new place on your own, better than not seeing it at all. If you asked me though to describe any of my favorite experiences from when I was abroad, if you go back and pick out your favorite post from my collection of unending prose, you’ll find this to be true. Characters bring a story to life.

I have a very simple strategy for dealing with “reverse culture shock” and you may have noticed it in the first sentence of this post when I wrote “travel to Boston” instead of “return to Boston”. In my mind, I’m still on an adventure! Danke für Lesen und bis nächstes Blog! J                

Stuttgart and Mainz

Last weekend, I took a trip with my pals Marius and Manuel to Stuttgart! Marius’s friend Thomas hosted us for Saturday night. When we arrived, I was blown away by the apartment that Thomas has. For a student’s place, it was quite luxurious and there was even a great view of the city from his windows. Because of Stuttgart’s “bowl” conformation, we could see the other sides of the “bowl” encircling from where we were and the city center down on the bottom. I was lucky enough to be able to experience some of Stuttgart’s nightlife before we all went to sleep, so I am grateful to the numerous Stuttgart natives that showed me a good time.    

On Sunday, Marius led us all on a grand tour of his hometown. We parked for free near the university and then trekked over to Schlossplatz (castle square), which is in the center of town. On the way, we passed by a bar called Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic), whose owners had some wisdom for choosing to operate out of essentially a tiny shack. On a nice summer evening, most of the patrons will crowd the square surrounding the bar, while the owners save big on rent. When we arrived in Schlossplatz, named for the Old Castle and New Castle that are adjacent to the square, Marius recounted how he was here in 2007 with 300,000 other soccer fans celebrating VFB Stuttgart’s first place finish in the Bundesliga. Next, we walked by the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church) and the Rathaus (city hall). Even though the former looks quite old and the latter quite new, both were constructed around the same time since the church was destroyed in WWII and the city hall is simply an example of modern architecture gone horribly wrong. At least there are plenty of other nice city halls in Germany.

Next, at the Marktplatz (market square), Marius pointed out his favorite toy store. He told us how as a child he’d go there all the time and it was amusing to picture a younger version of our tour guide running around looking at all the toys. After lunch (I had some tasty white sausages served with a pretzel), Thomas bid us adieu and Marius, Manuel, and I climbed (as in took the elevator) up to the top of the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) tower where we were rewarded for our strenuous climb with a nice (and free!) view of the city. Most of the Hauptbahnhof will actually be torn down over the next several years because of the Stuttgart 21 project that many of you have probably heard about. For those of you who haven’t, it’s a construction project that will establish several new high speed railway lines under a brand new train station. Many of the locals, however, have been organizing huge protests over the past couple of months, since the project will likely separate the Schlossgarten (Castle Garden, the city’s green space) for ten years and may cost billions more than planned. Remind anyone of the Big Dig? Danke Marius und Manuel für eine tolle Zeit!        

“Mainz, I thought you left Mainz Jonathan?” “Yes, I did leave Mainz Jonathan, but I had to return today to close my German bank account.” I was a little annoyed when the Sparkasse Heidelberg people told me I would have to go all the way to the Mainz branch to accomplish this task, but the day-off from work made it worthwhile. (Danke Anna-Laura!)  As it turned out, I was in and out of the bank in Mainz in about 15 minutes, so with some extra time, I decided to take one last trip to the university where I learned so much about German culture, plants, and life in general. What I really wanted to do was revisit the botanical garden that I knew would look much more impressive now that it was summer. Once I arrived, I knew I had made the right decision to stay in Mainz for an extra hour before returning to Heidelberg. With all the flowers blooming, more green everywhere, and plenty of people walking around, the place really felt alive. I made sure to visit my American friend Sequoiadendron giganteum, which some brilliant botanist way back when must have known I would need for inspiration to get through studying for my botany final back in February. I was also reminded of how friendly the people of Mainz are. First, the nice girl who handed me a campus magazine upon entering the campus smiled at me as I was leaving and said, “Oh, du hast eins schon” (oh, you have one already). Then, the ******* ticket machines at the Hauptbahnhof refused to accept anything but exact change and I didn’t have exact change. Luckily, a nice lady gave me the last 50 cents I needed for free. I thanked her before running off to make my train.    

For the first time in a long time, I will be traveling next week to a country that lies outside of Europe! Tune in next week for the final post of “Jonathan brach durch!” Danke fürs Lesen und bis nächstes Mal!