Ritchie's African Life: Karlsruhe, Germany (June 27

My first stop on my Europe Tour was my old stopping ground of Karlsruhe (literally "Karl's Peace"), located about an hour East of Strasbourg, France. Back in 2001, I studies in Karlsruhe from March until July. I studied German (auf Lehramt) and also got involved in a local church, Treffpunkt Leben. This trip was to get back in touch with friends from the church and to practice my Deutsch, which I can honestly say, has gotten worse. It is to be expected that if you don't use a language, you can loose it.

In front of the church, Treffpunkt Leben

I stayed with Holger and Claudia (right), friends from Treffpunkt Leben. Holger even had the entire week off, so we were able to hang out and relax. I got to go to church with them and see people that I know. The church is constantly growing and there are always new people, but I was glad to see those that I knew. Throughout the week, Holger and I went on many outings. We went to the Sinsheim Museum, a technical museum. We saw lots of cars and airplanes. The Concorde is there. My mom's dad took the Concorde from the States to Europe, and seeing it in Germany, made me feel like I was retracing some of his footsteps.

The Concorde

Holger and I even went to Koeln (Cologne) for two days. We saw the Dom, which is located right next to the train station. There was also a chocolate museum, yum ... Don't worry, I didn't eat all the chocolate. The best part was the chocolate fountain. Too bad the weather was too hot to be able to bring some back.

The Koelner Dom

In front of the Chocolate Museum

The Chocolate fountain

Another small trip that we took was to Strassbourg (as it's spelled in German). This time, Claudia was able to some with us. We drove from Karlsruhe. The Alsaciens are not too friendly towards the Germans. We stopped in France to get gas and the gas station refused to take German credit cards. I really felt the animosity when we were in some shops in Strassbourg. One time, a French shop owner came up to us and asked us a question in French just to see how we would respond. I responded in French and he was surprised.

Us on a bridge in Strassbourg

Arriving in France

Coming back to Germany

On my last Sunday, we went to church and later on we went to see "Ice Age 3" in 3-D. It was dubbed, so I had to pay attention. This was my last night before leaving for France the next morning. I am extremely grateful to Holger and Claudia for putting me up in their house and taking care of me.