Monthly Archives: July 2015

24.07.15 — Travel

Deutschland

It’s been well over a week since I landed back in the UK, but here’s a belated post on my eight day trip to Germany with Rhea and Izzy to visit Luisa and her lovely family in their house down in Bavaria.

Naturally, when me and Rhea landed we headed straight to the Smith family house in Herzogenaurach, where made a beeline for the local Eiscafé (ice cream cafe) after Luisa had been gushing over Spaghettieis (spaghetti ice cream). Here was mine – it was delicious!

Spaghettieis in Eiscafé Carlo

Later that evening we picked up Izzy, who had flown into Nürnberg airport separately, and headed for the part of the trip I had been most excited for – the local Sommerkirchweih or Bierfestival (beer festival). It was an amazing evening of beer drinking, music, and tipsy dancing on benches. It was lovely to see that nobody there was too drunk or aggressive – it was just a lot of fun for all the townspeople.

All of us on the way to the beer festival

We returned to the Kerwa for a second evening of festivities the day after, where I cracked out the tackiest shirt I could find and me and Iz treated ourselves to the biggest pretzel I have ever seen…

Death by pretzel

The day after, still in Herzogenaurach, we headed for the Freibad. The Freibad (literally ‘free pool’) is a huge open-air pool, complete with a trio of diving boards and a waterslide, which cost about 3€ for all-day entry. With an entry free equivalent to £2.50 or so, I did not expect the place to be so beautiful, clean and well-equipt! We spent most of the morning there making a nuisance of ourselves, splashing around and trying to re-enact Dirty Dancing…

The Freibad in Herzo

That evening we headed out into the centre of Herzogenaurach for more ice cream and some tea, and found ourselves in a lovely little Italian Restaurant, where I had a delicious pizza. We then headed back for an early night for an early start – for we were travelling up to Berlin for four days!

Luisa and Izzy at the eiscafe
Herzogenaurach by night

So for the next few days we took a bus ride up to Berlin, where we’d booked a hostel, and spent the time exploring the cosmopolitan city. Signing up for the Alternative Berlin Tour, we spent time poking around the city’s thriving urban art and graffiti scene, as well as visiting some more kooky spots.

The television tower
Found this guy down a graffiti-covered side street
Naturally I gravitated towards this odd light fitting

The tour ended in a place called Urban Spree, a huge outdoor art/club venue set in an abandoned railway hangar. We took a peek around their art gallery, and stopped for a burrito, but spent most of our time just taking in the endless street art. We even returned to Urban Spree in the evening for a night out organised by Alternative Berlin. It was awesome!

Our lunch stop
Ubran Spree street art
Rhea in Urban Spree

On our tour we also visited the Kunstraum Kreuzberg, an ex-hospital which is now an exhibition space and music school, where we spent some time looking at various projects, including one where the artist had activated spray cans and let them whizz around the room of their own accord. Another one which caught me off guard was installed in the actual toilet facilities – one of the sinks was continually spouting deep blue water. Being the fool that I am, I put my hands in it and ended up parading my blue-tinted digits around for the rest of the day. Nice work, Briggs.

Posters galore
Inside the Kunstraum Kreuzberg
Looking down to the water

One morning we took a trip to the Bauhaus Archives, where I was in my element – the Bauhaus philosophy and the whole modernism movement in general are of great interest to me (check out this project I completed on Online Typography and Modernism). Unfortunately photography was forbidden within the archive, but the building alone made a striking statement…

The Bauhaus Archive
Slope

After this we headed on down to the East Side Gallery, a graffiti/street art gallery set on the remnants of the Berlin Wall through the centre of the city. There we spent a while admiring the work, and then ended up being offered free beer and a space to drink it right on the street! Only in Germany…

On our way to the East Side Gallery
Me and Izzy with our free beer
Rhea and Luisa strike a pose

Sadly though, before long it was time to leave Berlin, but all was not lost as we headed back to Bavaria to visit Nürnberg (Nuremberg, as we English like to call it), spending a day wandering round the beautiful old city. The most breathtaking views could be found from the castle atop the hill, where we enjoyed the gorgeous architecture as well as panoramic views of the city.

Tapas in Nürnberg
A view down into the city
Some beautiful architecture
Narnia?

After time spent lounging and napping on a man-made beach, and a mouthful of chilli chocolate Mexican ice cream, it was time to head back to Herzogernaurach – but all was not lost, as we had time to head out for one last night at the bierfestival!

Luisa and Rhea at the Kerwa
Me and Evie (Lu's sister) look very happy to be here

Overall my time in Germany was amazing – from the traditional beer festivals of Bavaria to the cosmopolitan and liberal Berlin, it’s a country I severely underestimated and am very keen to visit again. Having been inspired and having already started learning German, who knows – maybe I’ll try and spend some significant time there one day!

Update: I’ve added some extra photos which were taken on my old film camera in a new post, Film Aus Deutschland, which can be found here.

22.07.15 — Journal

Selside Outward Bound

As part of my scholarship training, the lovely people at the University decided to send us on a three day outward bound trip off into the Yorkshire Dales, to spend some time engaging in various outdoorsy team-building activities based around a hut in a field called Selside. All first year scholars plus some second years (including me) were invited to tag along and enjoy caving, climbing, ambling, marshmallow-roasting, and more…

The scholars arrive at Selside

On the first day we arrived (just about) in the blue rust bucket that was our designated minibus, and after claiming a bed and a pair of indoor Crocs each, were sent straight into the adjoining field for some challenges. These involved walking on planks, building plank bridges across barrels, transporting ‘radioactive waste’, and communicating directions to others whilst blindfolded – all of which we managed successfully! This meant that our lunch was made for us – best prize ever.

Not sure if team-building shot or renaissance art

In the afternoon I took charge in deciding what activities we should go out and enjoy, with the general consensus being that people either wanted to go caving or go climbing. We split into two groups, and I joined the caving team for a trip under the Dales. The cave we had been assigned, it turned out, I had taken on exactly ten years ago when I was in Year 5 of primary school! I was pretty impressed when I could remember most of the layout.

The cavers are ready
Returning from the caves

Anyway, after peeling off our waterlogged clothes, roasting marshmallows over a BBQ, and accidentally sitting on the lid of Selside’s septic tank, we all headed off to bed.

Day two began as actively as the first day had ended, with us bumbling back through the deadly roads of the Dales for a spot of Ghyll Scrambling. This involved climbing up the riverbed of a river which ran down the side of a hill – however we got off lightly as the dry conditions meant there was little to no water flow – ideal for someone like me who had been moaning about being cold all morning. The midges, however, did not let us off lightly – we were bitten to death whilst trying to pass various scholars through a rope web at various heights as part of a quick team-building exercise.

I stole Damian's hat

In the afternoon I decided to push myself and volunteered, along with Adam, to co-lead the next expedition down the cave with the second set of scholars who had arrived. With my caving experience limited to the previous day’s efforts and my primary school trip a decade ago, I was very worried about getting the whole team lost for all eternity in the black caverns under Selside. I learned, however, that to be a respected leader one must carry on with false conviction in order to create the illusion that you know what you are doing – and if it turns out that you got it wrong, you have to know when to throw your hands up and admit that you screwed up.

Emerging from the cave a second time

Happily, however, I managed to successfully lead the rest of the scholars through the cave, and we resurfaced with the same number which we descended with. We did, however, return to Selside to the news that Pippa had been stretchered down the hillside from a walk she’d been on – an injury which ended with her in Leeds General Infirmary for the night! I am please to report that she has since recovered.

Joe, Emma & Pippa, all from PVAC

Day three began with just the second group around, all of whom went Ghyll Scrambling – however with me having already done it, I opted to stay indoors and help cook up some lunch for the returning scholars. After whipping up some stuffed potato skins, soups, sandwiches, and a ridiculous number of apple pies, the scholars returned to feast and then end the outward bound with some indoor team-building activities.

Returning from our Gyhll Scramble with a new hat
Wet and cold and ready for home

The outward bound residential, in brief, was a whole lot of fun concealing a whole lot of learning. It was a lovely opportunity to get to know the scholars, try new activities, and build on our leadership and organisational skills. Thank you to all involved in making it happen!

Image Credit: All photos in this blog post, unless otherwise stated, are property of Damian McDonald / The University of Leeds.