C.'s and Napoleon’s German Adventure

Today, Napoleon and I did some research on Germany. It contains 137,800 square miles which is similar in size to the state of Montana. It has 16 states and 82 million people. There are 5 geographical areas: the north flat lowlands, the low hills and mountains of Mittelbirge, the western and southern plateaus and mountains, the German Alpine foothills and lake country and finally the Bavarian Alps with Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain.

Lake Constance is the largest lake and it separates Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The highest elevation is Zugspitze at 2963m and the lowest point is Neuendorf bei Wilster at
3.54 m.

Day 2
Napoleon and I decided to try some sports that are popular in Germany. In the winter, they enjoy skiing in the Alps. They have won many Olympic medals in the Winter sports including the luge, bobsled and speed skating. The national sport is soccer (fussball) and we were able to watch the pro’s play. Tennis is also very popular thanks to athletes like Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. Later we enjoyed a nice hike through some trails in the mountains and rode our bikes along a river.

Day 3
On our adventure today we went to school to learn more about the language. The official language is German however many understand English as well. A few of the words we learned were:
Guten tag-----hello
Hallo-----------hello, casual
Guten morgen----good morning
Guten abend----good evening
Guten nacht-----good night
Auf Wiedersehen---good bye

Day 4
Our day started with a trip to the Berlin Wall. This was a wall that divided Germany into East and West. It was erected in 1961 to seal off East Germany from the rest. It divided families who could no longer see each other. It began to fall in Nov, 1989 and the Germanys reunited in 1990.

Next we went to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle made by Ludwig the second of Bavaria. He was known as Mad King Ludwig and he commissioned many castles during his reign. The castle is located in Fussen. If it looks familiar it is because Cinderella’s castle in Disney World is fashioned after this famous landmark.

Finally our day ended in Munich for the biggest party of the year called Oktoberfest. We were able to enjoy many of Germany favorite foods and drinks including bratwurst and apple streudel.

We have enjoyed Germany but boy are we tired. We are ready to head back home!