Here we are back in Regensburg. Sorry for having not written in over two weeks. The last two weeks have been hectic in a strangely good way (other than keeping up on my blog). We most recently just finished visiting Austria and Northern Italy. As part of our Art History class we spent a lot of time touring famous museums and churches to get a better understanding of how Western Art developed in Europe over the last couple Milleniums. However, before we were in Austria and Italy we began our two week adventure with a train to Memmingen, Bavaria...
After finishing the Bonhoeffer class, David and I took a train from Regensburg to fly out of the Ryan Air airport with our destination as Girona, Spain. We spent one night in Girona after walking around the city on an ancient wall that allows you to see the entirety of the surrounding cities and forests. Though it was raining we enjoyed seeing a smaller town of Spain before heading into the bustling night life of Barcelona. On Sunday the 13th we headed to Barcelona where we spent one night (we wish we had at least two, but it was great to at least go for a day) in a really cheap hostel that was amazingly located 20 yards from the beach. We were able to walk from our hostel to tour the city and see the awesome sites such as all the shops at Las Ramblas and the unique structure of the church Sagrada Familia. On Monday we flew from Barcelona to Madrid and landed just in time to get some dinner and get settled down at our hostel before checking out a little bit of the city. Tuesday we went on a walking tour led by a hostel tour guide of the city to see the major sites and learn a little bit of Spanish history. Spain was a very intriguing culture with their North African and European influences. We also learned that their Spanish is not quite Mexican Spanish (and they will let you know it). On Wednesday we departed Madrid and flew into Marrakesh, Morocco. Once we landed we jumped right into the culture as we had to haggle for a cab and then drove through the city on unmarked roads that were somewhat reminiscent of watching an episode of the Amazing Race. We met up with some other classmates at their hostel before David and I split up as I joined a group that was headed to Fez and David decided to spend more time in Marrakesh. Morocco brought on plenty of fun, but it also became a good learning experience; It was my first time interacting in an entirely Muslim culture. Instead of touring Cathedrals were looking up mosques and the different prayer times of the day as well as not seeing very many women without their head coverings. We were also able to spend plenty of time in the famed markets of Marrakesh and I am still not sure whether looking through and buying gifts is more fun than haggling for an extremely low price. After spending our last few hours trying some local food and grabbing a last few items, David and I headed from Morocco back to Memmingen via Rome. Once back in Germany, we took a train from Memmingen to Salzburg to meet up for the start of the Art Tour...
Once in Salzburg, our class began our tour with some delicious Austrian famed cuisine: The Schnitzel. Actually we started our tour with a walk around Salzburg to visit some of the many sites from the Sound of Music. It was kind of odd to see so many familiar scenes from a movie we all had seen at some point growing up. After Salzburg we headed to Venice for two nights where we went through the Doges Palace and St. Marks Cathedral as we began to learn about the various artistic influences of northern Italy. We then had time to walk around the famed city's canals and look at the various shops with masks and Venetian glass before getting some delicious Italian food. On Wednesday we headed to the world renowned city of Florence, known for its wide range of famous Italian art pieces. For several hours we checked out hundreds of pieces of Art that were absolutely astounding. I now have a somewhat better appreciation for why people go to see art in person; seeing paintings and sculptures (with the help of a professor) in person adds a whole extra dimension to the piece. I was especially impressed with Michelangelo's David, which is an amazing sculpture with such amazing detail put in stone depicting the young Bible hero. After some more delicious Italian pizzas and pastas, we left for the coastal cities of Cinque Terra. Though we were no longer focused on art, we were able to see some natural beauty as we traveled between the famous coastal cities that creep over the edges of mountains along the Liguria Sea. We spent Saturday hiking and walking through the towns before a number of us splurged on a seafood dinner made of local cuisine. Sunday (yesterday) we drove back to Regensburg despite some setbacks, and arrived around 1am this morning. Today we begin our last week of Art History and David and I will be leaving in about 9 days for the U.K. Pray for us as we finish up the semester that we will finish strong. We have been blessed with an awesome semester. Thanks for your prayers.
From Regensburg,
Hayden
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