Group photo of us inside of the "Neues Rathaus" (new town hall)
Today was a very eventful day! We did tons and tons of walking (probably about 3 miles)! We picked up the students from school after their 2nd period and we went exploring throughout the city following parts of the "Red Thread", going inside the "Neues Rathaus", and visiting the "Herrenhäuser Gärten".
We started at the main train station following along and seeing the opera center and moving down to the Aegidien church, which was built around 1347! We stopped in many places along the way taking pictures and sharing stories. Tod has been such a great help in sharing stories with the students. He has a knack for storytelling.
We made it to the new city hall and all of the students were blown away. When I told the students that we'd be going to the top, it looked as though their eyes were going to fall out of their head. They were so excited. We entered the building and we were super lucky that they had just had a time slot open for us to take the elevator the top. We moved quickly up the three flights of stairs to wait for the elevator that moves up, inside the dome. The elevator could only take 5 people at a time, so we broke into three different groups. It moves up the curve of the dome and was certainly tight with five people in it. The floor is curved to compensate for moving up a curve. One could see up, down, and through all walls of the elevator. We were all so brave! It has a beautifully warm day, so it felt good to be up high with the brisk wind, while we enjoyed the incredible views of the entire city. All of the students took pictures and were so excited! It took a while to get back down, because we had to wait for the elevator. We made the decision to cut our tour a little shorter so we could even plenty of time to eat and make it to the "Herrenhäuser Gärten".
We made our stop on the "Red Thread" at the "Markthalle", where there were many different food vendors. Students were free to roam and grab food from whichever vendor they chose. Tod and I ate some delicious curry for 3.50 Euros! We gave all students 30 minutes to eat and then we made it on our way to the "Herrenhäuser Gärten".
We arrived via subway/streetcar and we gathered around and I passed out the scavenger hunt photo adventure handouts, which I created all in German (with a vocabulary list in it). Students had the option to participate in the scavenger hunt or have just over an hour of free time. Two teams formed to take tons of pictures (one with three and another with four). They both took it seriously and followed the ridiculous directions (i.e. wave at the statue named, "Amerika", make a "lost" face while in the labyrinth). The weather was sunny and the students had moments to relax and enjoy themselves.
Then we returned back to school and met up with their German host siblings. Tomorrow, we go to Hamburg with host siblings. We will be making a whole day of it. We will leave via train at 9:30am, arrive in Hamburg at 12pm. We will explore many things in Hamburg and then we will leave at 5:30pm. Lots of adventures! The students are certainly holding up well considering we have not even been here 72 hours.
View of one of the gardens at Herrenhäuser Gärten
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