24. 02. 2005 - 27. 02. 2005: Algonquin Park 2
Being granted 4 free days within the term, we took our chance to visit Algonquin in the winter. We were afraid of already being too late, but it was still -20°C here and we had about 60cm of snow.
We had rented some kind of large apartment for 12 people including a kitchen providing us cheap food during our stay.
After cross-country skiing on the first day, we went snowshoeing on the second.
Since the park was almost deserted, we hardly met anybody and found more trails of animals than of humans.
The last day was the highlight of the trip: dogsledding! 6 dogs and 2 people made up the crew of each sled. We had to find the dogs for our sleds in a large yard with several hundred dogs, take them to the sled, and harness them.
The dogs are really keen on running and don't like stops. When you want to make a stop, you have to step on the sled's break and throw out an anchor or tie the sled to a tree, otherwise the dogs would just go on and on. And they are really fast!
17. 03. 2005: German Banquet
Today all German exchange students were invited to a banquet in the Transylvania Club in Kitchener. The Braunschweig group proved their professionalism by showing up completely and exceedingly well dressed.
The Transylvania Club is one of several German Clubs in Kitchener. The city was founded by German immigrants and used to be called Berlin until World War 2.
And they even have food almost like in Germany! This was the first Schnitzel I had since several months...
22. 04. 2005 - 25. 04. 2005: New York
Since we had 10 free days between the terms, we took our chance to finally visit the USA. After being asked about our involvement in the Holocaust at the border and 10 hours of driving, we reached New York City. Our first destination here: the Empire State Building. The picture shows the entrance hall.
Unfortunately, the clouds descended while we passed the security checks inside, and when we finally reached the top we saw just fog to each side but the one protected from wind by the building itself.
So we had no chance but to pay and wait again on the second day... But this time we were rewarded a very nice view over the skyline. The Empire State Building itself was built in 1931 and was the world's highest building for over 40 years with a height of 449m.
And yes, I've really been there!!!
The Chrysler building was completed two years earlier, being the worlds highest building (318m) for just a very short time. But it's still one of the most beautiful ones, with it's tip decorated with large replicas of Chrysler car parts.
The Time Square is basically a triangular place with very special building regulations: every building must have illuminated advertising!
Many storeys in the Times Tower are unrented, but the owner gets several million dollars each year for the advertising.
The heathen god Atlas is placed ironically directly in front of the St. Patrick's cathedral, one of the largest churches in North America, inaugurated in 1879.
And yes, there are a lot of taxis in New York!!
The famous Grand Central Terminal was completed in 1913. Over the years, many movies had a scene in this station.
The headquarter of the United Nations is also located in New York City. Taking the tour, you can visit most rooms, for example the one the security council is holding it's meetings in.
Since 9/11, the Empire State Building is the highest skyscraper in New York again, since everything that is left from the World Trade Center is this excavation pit. Some of the buildings surrounding Ground Zero are still damaged.
The Brooklyn bridge was the world's largest suspension bridge when completed in 1883, connecting Manhattan and the then independent city Brooklyn.
Statue of a bull on Wall Street, sign for rising stock prices.
Our final goal: the staue of liberty. Facing the ocean and being pretty chubby, it was built on a very small island south of Manhattan in 1886. The statue was financed by France, the Americans just had to build the socket (which took them very long).
The good things about our hotel: we found a free parking space and it was very cheap. The bad thing: after waking up on the first morning, our food looked like this. After heroically blocking the mousehole in the wall with a carrot, we felt quite safe until we discovered the second hole in the last night. At least, we got 1/3 of our money back for this, making this the cheapest hotel we've been in on the whole trip (still not really recommendable...).
26. 04. 2005: Philadelphia
Our next stop on the tour was Philadelphia. The city was much cleaner and friendlier than New York, you just had to take care not to enter the wrong streets, otherwise you ended up in a ghetto very easily.
Philadelphia is the birthplace of the American independence and constitution. On July 8, 1776 the Liberty Bell rang and people gathered to hear the declaration of independence from Britain. The bell was bought from England in 1751. It cracked soon and several attempts to repair it failed. It also sounded terrible, but that didn't keep the Americans from declaring it a symbol for freedom after 1776...
Inside the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed to Independence Hall, the declaration of independence (1776) and the constitution (1787) were prepared. At first, the congress' goal was just to be recognized as equal British citizens, but as this failed, they switched over to independence. Pretty lame start for a nation, overall.
This house is said to be the cradle of the American flag. The sewer Betsy Ross lived here and she sewed the first flag that looked slightly different from today's since there were only 13 states at that time.
The skyline is not as impressive as New York's is, but looks much friendlier overall.
The large city hall was completed in 1901. The statue on the top shows William Penn, who founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681.
The road leading from the city hall to the museum of art is lined with the flags of all countries in the world.
27. 04. 2005: Washington, D.C.
The last day of our tour took us to the capital of the United States. We were quite surprised that we could get so close to the White House.
It has been the home of every U.S. president except George Washington (since most of the city still had to be built when he was president).
The inner city looks very clean and beautiful, but heavy street patrols and helicopters cycling over us caused some strange feelings.
This is the treasury department, but it could have been any other department as well, since they all look somehow like old Greek temples.
The Capitol is the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. government.
Southwest of the White House, many memorials are located, one of the biggest being the World War 2 memorial. The inscriptions with pithy sayings of American politicians and generals of that time seem somehow misplaced here.
The Lincoln memorial is located on the west side of the reflecting pool. This picture might be familiar from "Forrest Gump"...
...especially from the other side with the view over the Washington monument. The monument was constructed in 1876-1884 to celebrate the most famous president up to now.
