BEARS ON THE ROAD

Bamberg is a small town, full of cobblestone roads that intertwine in a confusing manner and scaffolding. We started our visit in the cathedral, which was darkly lit and mostly made of stone. In the entryway was the memorial for the only pope buried north of the Alps. Several small golden and wooden altars lined the sides, and at the front was a large silver altar. The main feature of interest was the small dark staircase down to the tombs of the bishops. Our next stop was the Residenz, which wasn’t quite as impressive as Ludwig II’s magnificent dwellings, but which still featured glorious tapestries and paintings. However, the main feature of interest was the large rose garden.  Our big adventure of the day was the beginning of the Bayreuth Festival. Das Rheingold (2.5 hours long) is the beginning of the Ring Cycle, a four part opera by Wagner. It tells the story of Albrecht, a hideous gnome, who is told of the magical properties of the Rheingold by the Rheinmaidens, whom he...

We awoke in Nuremberg and began the self-guided walking tour. We first passed Lorenzkirche, a Lutheran church. We were unable to go in because there was a service, so we decided to try again later. We also passed a giant fountain that said it depicted ‘scenes of married life’ but which featured screaming people, bea rs, and skeletons, among other things. Other highlights of our tour were: the Albecht Durer house, the giant rabbit statue, and the giant clock on the tower of Frauenkirche, which goes off at noon and whose ritual, called the mannleinlaufen, includes people blowing horns, ringing bells, and bowing in front of Karl IV. In the church of St. Sebalduskirche, we found a Playmobil Martin Luther and decided it was a necessity. We also visited Handwerkhof, where old shops and buildings have been replicated and are still in business (ie. the tin store). We stopped at the biergarten here for some pretzels and beverages. Interestingly, my water was given to me in a champagne glass...

The next morning, we drove into the town of St. Gallen, Switzerland, so that we could see St. Galle, the former abbey and current cathedral. The inside was large and domed, and pale green enamel fixtures were interspersed with intricate golden ornamentation. All of the wood fixtures were beautifully carved. We wandered the town for an hour or two before heading back out and going into Triberg, in the Black Forest. We purchased a bag of peanuts, as advertisements about the large number of squirrels littered the entry to the trail. We walked up to Triberg Falls, the tallest waterfall in Germany, and looked down at the amazing view of the city. We did not, however, find any squirrels, which was extremely disappointing. Our next stop was the House of 1000 Clocks, since my mom insisted that we couldn’t leave Germany without a cuckoo clock. I was in favor of the floor to ceiling clock with a mill and host of wildlife creatures rendered in authentic Black Forest wood, but since it “was too...

We left Ettal early in the morning and drove through charming village after village, finally ending up in Hohenschwangau, the site of the childhood home and dream palace of Ludwig II. We began the day by touring the eponymous castle, the home of Ludwig’s parents, Maximilian and Maria. The outside was a collection of buttery yellow cylindrical buildings, interspersed among large fountains. Most of these depicted swans- the symbol of the Bavarian royal family. Our tour started in the billiard room, from whence we proceeded to the dining room. Every room of the palace contained numerous paintings of scenes from German history and legend, as well as lavish furnishings and decorations. For example, the dining room depicted in murals the tale of Lohengrin, the swan king. On the table were bronze tiered trays, gifts for Maximilian and Maria. We passed into the queen’s room, which portrayed the role of royal women in medieval times. The queen’s interconnected reading and writing rooms had s...

We left the hotel early to get our rental car and began the long, winding road to Linderhof Palace, the vacation home of Ludwig II. It was largely a tribute to Versailles. The palace is in the Baroque style and therefore symmetrical. We began in a red room decorated with gold and lined with paintings. The highlight of the room was a large peacock statue. We moved from here into a series of waiting rooms, each one themed with a different color. On the ceiling of the first one were golden depictions of the zodiac signs. Everywhere were portraits of French aristocracy and rulers- for example, the “purple room” contained the likenesses of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Ludwig collected vases, many of which could be found perched on shelves on the gilded walls. While he had basically no power, he was incredibly wealthy, and as a result, his entire private palace is magnificent. Among the amazing furnishings and decorations were: a table that retracted into the floor, a set of lapis la...

We woke up in Munich, and after a quick breakfast, we headed for the Residenzmuseum, home of the Wittelsbach rulers. We wandered throughout the intricately decorated palace rooms, marveling at the lavishly adorned walls and furnishings. I saw some familiar names from AP Euro, including Count Palatine of the Rhine. Among the amazing rooms were the Grotto Court (made primarily of painted shells arranged to make huge figures), the Ornate Chapel (an almost indescribable overload of golden decoration on a blue background), and the Room of Mirrors (an almost funhouse like room covered floor-to-ceiling in gilded mirrors). After this maze-like treasure trove, we went over to the actual Treasury, which was filled with beautiful pieces or work. Crowns, necklaces, swords, dishes, and various other heavily jeweled items lined the walls, each with a unique history. After finishing the exhibit, we left in a daze and began to stumble to the Vikualienmarkt (farmers market). On the way we stoppe...

A little bitter about having to surrender the outline and evidence of both our cases, my partner and I walked into the sub-arctic temperatures of the 2nd floor of the Hilles building, where our first round in the tournament would take place. We lost the coin flip and ended up speaking first. My partner and I had previously agreed that con was the stronger side, so we chose that case. Our opponents were incredible speakers who made some points I hadn't previously considered, but it was a close round. In the end, they won. However, my partner and I won the next three rounds, going con for all five of the prelim rounds on the first day. We ended with a precarious 3-2 record. Winning the next round meant we would advance to elimination rounds. The night was spent going through evidence and seeing if we could find anything new and better. The next morning, we walked into our final round. Our opponents won the coin toss, and in a moment of indescribable horror, chose to read their c...

I was dropped off at the airport quite early in order to catch my 8 AM flight to Boston. As I stood in line at the Starbucks, hoping to find some breakfast, I noticed a magazine depicting the star of my favorite musical. I fought the temptation to purchase the magazine- and the temptation won. I waited at the sign that had my gate number for about an hour and a half before realizing that the door for my gate was actually on the other side of the terminal. Luckily, I managed to score a seat. I slept and awoke in Boston. A confusing set of subway rides later, I arrived at Harvard Square, and made my way to Currier House. After checking in, I had a slight issue opening the door to my room. Eventually I figured out that you had to pull the door in a little bit while turning the key. I was relieved to see that I didn’t have a roommate. After setting up my room, I went down for dinner and met my lab group. We had some practice debates in which I advocated for Androids and waffles. The...

I was assigned a partner, and after a lecture about utilitarianism and deontology, our lab met up to do some practice solo debates comparing the two philosophies. I won the first round but then lost to one of the state champions in my group. After the practice debates, we met with our partners to divvy up cases and evidence. I chose to write the con case. Hours later, I was well-versed in the 1 st Amendment, Tinker vs. Des Moines, the chilling effect, and the slippery slope, as well as the various connotations of the word “regulate”. Once I had a draft with framework and three contentions that I was pretty proud of, I worked on compiling evidence for our group file. The next day was when our lab would do practice debates in our partnerships, in order to develop our cases. Unfortunately, my partner had fallen ill without finishing the pro case, so in the 30 minutes preceding my round, I threw together a pretty decent pro case, considering the circumstances. Maverick debating is...

I rolled up to Sanibel Sea School for the first time as a CIT. I've been going there as a camper for as long as I can remember, but this was entirely different. First, I received my coveted red STAFF shirt and met my fellow CITS and the counselors. We then waited for the kids to show up. The morning was for the most part quiet, since no one really knew each other. We joined for circle time and then split into our groups to go to the beach and look for trash to clean up. However, since the tide was all the way to the dunes, we didn’t find very much, and most of my time was spent getting to know the campers. We went back to the camp to have lunch, and then took the surfboards out to the beach. I managed to score a deal to drive to sea school every morning rather than bike 6 miles there and 6 miles back, which was only really an improvement because no physical exertion was required, but at least I wasn’t subjected to the burning heat every morning and evening. We took the campers...

We got to Edinburgh late, so the first night, we went straight to the hotel.             In the morning, I was shocked to learn that we were not even going to Loch Ness, we were instead traveling around Edinburgh. However, I decided to let it go. We began by walking to Edinburgh Castle, perched on top of a steep cliff. Luckily, this is not the way up. We dodged a military event and wandered around the fortress-like structure. Several monuments were blocked by a huge arrangement of bleachers, presumably for an event that night. We saw multiple large cannons, St. Margaret’s Chapel, and the Cemetery for Soldier’s Dogs. We also viewed the Crown Jewels of Scotland, featuring a large scepter, and a sword that was easily as tall, if not taller, than me, with a hilt as wide as a usual doorway. Among the Crown Jewels was the Rock of Destiny. At the gift shop, we got some tablet, traditional Scottish candy that turned out to be sugar and c...

We arrived in York, and after ditching our bags, headed for the Jorvik Viking Centre.             When you walk in to the Centre, you immediately find yourself on a thick glass floor that looks down at an archaeological site that shows the foundations of two Viking houses. Around the room were videos about Viking conquests, and artifacts that had been found on the site below.             From there, we went on the Disney-like ride, a slow moving car that drove around a model Viking town with life sized figures that spoke in another language (I presume it was some form of Nordic) as our audio headset helpfully translated, as well as giving insightful information on everyday Viking life.             After this, we went through the rest of the exhibits, which featured several skeletons, one of which had a hologram-like d...

We arrived in Hexham, a small, quaint town whose main feature is the large abbey. We could not go in, sadly, because of a wedding featuring some really spectacular hats, but we were able to wander the grounds of the impressive abbey anyway.             We boarded our bus to Hadrian’s Wall, which took us to several places along the wall that have particularly interesting features. My parents had originally intended for us to hike the entire wall, but (luckily) that wasn’t going to happen, so instead we went to some key sites. The first of these was Vindolanda, a series of low walls that were once a Roman auxiliary fort. There is little left of the original stone used, and many of the charming little cottages we passed appeared to in fact be made of ancient Roman stone. Waste not, want not, I suppose.             Part of Vindolanda is an active archaeologic dig site, but we w...

We returned to London and began, per usual, at the hotel to drop our bags .             From there, we walked to the City of London Museum, near a part of the old Roman walls . The exhibit showed the hundreds of items that had been excavated, which pointed to how much history London is sitting on top of . There were flint arrowheads, pieces of pottery, and skulls, human and animal alike . There are so many ancient societies resting under the current metropolis- it is truly astounding! It's a clock. The cannons fire at the hour. Next, we went to the British Museum, possibly so any void of my soul NOT yet filled with history could be jam packed with priceless ancient artifacts. We began with the oldest part of history, viewing many statues and the gigantic arm of a pharaoh (held out so that, if not for the sign that said ‘Do not touch’, I would have been tempted to fist bump it) before coming to probably the most recogniza...

We arrived at Stratford-upon-Avon, and after leaving our stuff at the hotel, decided to wander around the small town. The entire place seemed to be made out of charming buildings and quaint parks.             We wound our way to the Holy Trinity Church, the site of Shakespeare’s grave. Through the mass of people, I was able to indeed see the worn tomb of the Bard, so faded that you can’t read the inscription. In addition, there was a baptismal font that Shakespeare may have been baptized with, and a lovely organ.             Next, we wandered over to the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and stayed in the shop until it was time for the performance. I was sorely tempted by the mug that was a facsimile of the Underground train lines, except the different colored lines represented fools, lovers, and many other categories. Where the stations would have been were characters that...

We arrived in London and, after looking at the trolley sticking out of the bricks at King’s Cross, took a tube to our hotel. From there, we headed to the National Gallery, walking through a park full of swans, geese, and ducks.             We began in the exhibits featuring art from the 1200s-1500s. As you can imagine, there was quite a lot of religious art, but also depicted were Greek stories, such as a painting of Helen being carried off by Paris while her companions stare after her dispassionately. Another featured the hunter who had the misfortune of running into Diana, who promptly turned him into a stag and had him torn apart by his own hounds.             After methodically going through every room, we felt the need to get some food at the café, and after a refreshing “fairy cake”, we began our journey to the next part of the museum, the wing of art from the 160...

We left our hostel, and after several long train and bus rides, got to Pooh Corner.             We perused the awesome merchandise before inquiring if we could leave our luggage so we didn’t have to drag it through Ashdown Forest (the Hundred Acre Woods). The lady at the desk allowed us to put our heavy bags in the office and then gave us directions to Poohsticks Bridge.             We collected sticks along the road before we reached the first of many gates we would have to climb over. The walk started pleasantly enough, shaded by tall trees with a wide path. We went up for a bit before turning right onto a narrow trail full of brambles- and bugs. I survived, however, and the next bit of our walk was a wide grassy meadow full of flowers, with an open view of the surrounding land. We then traversed along a road, stopping to admire the small door in the side of a tree, bef...

We got a train to Salisbury, and after leaving our heavy luggage at the Cat Tavern, we got on a bus to Stonehenge.             We reached our destination a while later and took a second bus to reach the site. I’m sure I don’t need to describe what Stonehenge look like- it’s quite famous, you know- so I will settle for pontificating about the various theories surrounding the site.             There are endless ideas as to why Stonehenge was constructed. Many people think it served as some sort of calendar, as the stones are aligned with several auspicious events. However, there is evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, or (my favorite) a place of healing, made so by the bluestones, rocks from Wales said to have power. This theory is strengthened by the skeletons of people who had severe medical conditions. It is possible that these unfortunates traveled to Sto...