To Darmstadt we go!

((((PICTURES ARE AFTER THE TEXT. ))))))

Hello All!  THIS IS LONG OVER DUE. We went to Darmstadt on April 29th. Sorry for the delay. Man can I say it was a great experience. We all had to wake up very early. This was very unusual for us, because we usually sleep all day Saturday. Or maybe that is just me. This is what happens when you study German everyday for 7 hours. Nevertheless, I would not let this opportunity pass me by. First, we used the S-Bahn (which I am proud to say I am now an expert at riding.)  S-Bahn is the train system in Frankfurt and also Germany. Let’s not soon forget when I first arrived, I thought I knew everything about Germany, and that was probably the biggest lie I told myself. You live and you learn right? Now, the featured picture is the Darmstadt church in Germany. It has a wide range of historical background. This is called “the Russian chapel Church of St. Mary Magdalene,”  The Russian chapel on the Mathildenhohe was built by the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Czarina Alexandra (Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt from private means.) The deeply religious ruler, did not want to leave at his family Darmstadt Russian Orthodox worship services, for this reason the Czar donated funds for the construction of the church on the Mathildenhohe. The private property of the Czar family, The church was built as the first building on the Mathildenhohe (The church is built in the style of early Jaroslaw churches) Was built on Russian soil. This was imported from all parts of Russia to Darmstadt, which is the only Russian court chapel outside the former Tsar’s empire (Russia) (possibly open to the public. In 1914, the lily basin in front of the Russian chapel was built by young style artists and the chapel thus invested in the overall picture of the Mathildenhohe.

You can thank me for the knowledge I just dropped on you later ;). I think the tower even cooler in my opinion. The tower in my second picture is a wedding tower. It is called “The 5 finger tower”  because of its appearance. I’m not sure if you see 5 fingers when you look at it from the angle I took. Nonetheless, I walked all the way to the top and I was not as tired as I thought I would be. When you look at the tower, it can be very intimidating. It is 485m high and the landmark of Darmstadt. It was designed by the Art Nouveau architect Joseph Maria Olbrich and finished in 1908. A gift from the city of Darmstadt in honor of the milling of the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig with Princess Eleonore to Solms-Hohensolms-Lich in 1905. Since 1993, the Grand Duchess has been allowed to marry in the wedding tower. I made a joke with the lady who was speaking. She was explaining that to be getting married in this tower was a great honor. I said “Well, I have the ring ready, we don’t need to waste any time.” Someone in the crowd said  “Took you long enough to ask!!” Everyone was laughing. I love my fellow Goethe classmates, the teachers, and the staff. Everyone is funny and somewhat comical.

After we left this area we went to eat. I had to order, of course, the most famous Frankfurt Green sauce Snitzel. You can honestly never go wrong with this choice. In the end, we visited a Design Campus. It is the Design house headquarters of Hessen. We had an exhibition venue for the students of the design department. This was a really interesting tour. They have a garden on top of the building. Let that sink in for just a second. A GARDEN ON TOP OF A BUILDING!! I don’t know about you, but this is such a radical idea. That’s not all! They had an automatic water system for the garden and they have a security system to keep the birds from rested on the wires. When the birds come down and land on the wires, it sends a light shock to the bird. DON’T WORRY!! It’s not animal abuse or inhumane. They clarified that the shocks were nowhere close to actually hurting the birds. It is just utilized to get the birds to move to a different location. So they won’t use the bathroom on the garden. At most it’s a minor precautionary measure. When we were inside the Design Campus, they showed the beautiful classrooms. It was very modern and very sleek in design. Many of the floors were made of Bamboo. There were tv’s in just about every room. In my opinion, this building was very well equipped for class lectures and meetings. There was this one particular that for some reason sparked my interest. I make this joke with the tour guide and I was not trying to be funny but most everyone laughed. I said “This room reminds me of the rooms people sit in and everyone is in a circle.” “They normally say something like, Hi, my name is Johnathan, and I have an addiction.”  The tour guide then clarified I was talking about group therapy session. All of my classmates and friends were laughing. The way the room was set up, it honestly made me feel like a group therapy session :). But you know me and my big mouth. Anyways, after we left the Design House, we had a choice to leave or stay and look around the area of Darmstadt. If you know me, you know I was the one person convincing all my friends to stay. This city had both a city and suburban feel. I can’t really explain it. It was the right mixture and the architecture was definitely worth appreciating. Well, that’s all for now folks!!! Hope you enjoyed reading this post. I had to add some comedy today. I love sharing my experiences. Talk to y’all soon. Stay tuned!!!!