Before leaving Nepal, I did have a bit of fun - bungee jumping. About 3 hours from Kathmandu (and 15 minutes from the Tibetan border) is a river gorge that is home to a 160m bungee and swing, as well as a few resorts that are centered around it. Unfortunately I couldn't take anz pictures of myself, but I would have loved to see my face when I did my first jump on the swing. I did a solid "running man" pose that turned into shear terror after a second or two of freefall. Then, for the bungee, I paid homage to William Wallace and yelled "FREEDOM" before going over. It was a good way to go out.
My plan in Germany was to land and immediately catch a train to a town called Bamberg to stay with a guy named Jerry that I had met on my second day in New Zealand, three months ago. However, I had no confirmation that he would be there and no phone number, and all he had was a "I think I can be there at 10:30" and no number either. But I get on the train in the face of uncertainty and enjoy the two hour ride to Bamberg. I get off at 10:30 like planned, and looked around inside and outside the station. No Jerry. I went into a McDonalds to see if they had wifi. They didn't. So I was in a rural German town, that has less signs in English than Nepal did, with no way to contact Jerry. I figure I could either take the train back to Nünberg or find a cheap hotel. I looked outside to see what I could see, and I saw a guy standing at the window, looking at me. We lock eyes for a few seconds, then realize it's Jerry, and was quite relieved.
I didn't know what to expect at all from Jerry. But he had come with his friend Toby and they decided to show me around. We drove to the 1000 year old cathedral, the 600 year odl castle, went 195 kmph on the Autobahn, then went to Pettstadt to end at Jerry's house. Jerry's house is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site - it's essentially part of the town church that was built in 1754, right in the middle of town. Then they got me some local beer and made me a salami sandwich. I was beyond thankful - this was turning out way better than I had expected.
The next morning, Jerry had to go to work at 6 and I was left alone to meet his dad. His dad speaks very little English, but is a huge basketball fan (Bamberg is like 4 time reigning Deutschland basketball champions). When he found out I was from Dallas, the conversation was firmly stuck around Dirk Nowitzki, who is actually from the next town over. After a while, Jerry's dad took me into Bamberg and showed me where everything was. I explored for a few hours, then met up with Jerry and Toby for a taste of the local Rauchbier, smoked beer, that Bamberg is famous for. They told me about their idea for a music show that they were starting and asked me if I would mind being the camera guy, which was going to be filmed that night. After all they did for me, of course I was in.
The band that they were interviewing was the local band Human Suffering. That's right, Human Suffering, the Bamberg black metal band. When they showed up, I had to stop myself from laughing and stick to "sprechen kein deutsch." So we filmed for about an hour, then found out the audio was corrupt, refilmed, and then hung out for a bit. Thankfully, I guess, I used to be into some pretty hardcore metal bands and they spoke descent English, so we had something to talk about, but they were so surprised I hadn't heard of such and such pagan/metalcore/black/gothic/etc rock bands from America. I told them I really liked rap, and that effectively killed the conversation.
So far, I've loved Germany. Bamberg is kind of a hidden gem and it's been great to have somebody to hang out with and talk to, and it's really nice to have a free room and breakfast/dinner. This town also boasts that it has more beer breweries per capita than any other town in the world. I believe it. They also have a special beer here called Rauchbier, German for smoked beer, and it's pretty good. It's very beautiful and just makes me more excited to be in Europe finally. It's weird that now the locals don't immediately know I'm a foreigner by looking at me - I'm white, they're white, so they assume I speak the language, etc.
Tonight I take a night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia where I'll do my first bit of couchsurfing! I'm very interested to see what some of these more eastern countries are like, but I've only heard good things about them, so we'll see what we see!
My hotel was across the street from an English school
Bungee bridge
Just before the jump
We all called this guy "Nepali Rob Schneider"
My plan in Germany was to land and immediately catch a train to a town called Bamberg to stay with a guy named Jerry that I had met on my second day in New Zealand, three months ago. However, I had no confirmation that he would be there and no phone number, and all he had was a "I think I can be there at 10:30" and no number either. But I get on the train in the face of uncertainty and enjoy the two hour ride to Bamberg. I get off at 10:30 like planned, and looked around inside and outside the station. No Jerry. I went into a McDonalds to see if they had wifi. They didn't. So I was in a rural German town, that has less signs in English than Nepal did, with no way to contact Jerry. I figure I could either take the train back to Nünberg or find a cheap hotel. I looked outside to see what I could see, and I saw a guy standing at the window, looking at me. We lock eyes for a few seconds, then realize it's Jerry, and was quite relieved.
I didn't know what to expect at all from Jerry. But he had come with his friend Toby and they decided to show me around. We drove to the 1000 year old cathedral, the 600 year odl castle, went 195 kmph on the Autobahn, then went to Pettstadt to end at Jerry's house. Jerry's house is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site - it's essentially part of the town church that was built in 1754, right in the middle of town. Then they got me some local beer and made me a salami sandwich. I was beyond thankful - this was turning out way better than I had expected.
Built on May 6, 1012 - exactly 1000 years ago
Just another beautiful European town
Town hall, built between the old poor and rich sides of the river
Jerry on the left and Tobi on the right
"Flanconian meats" - Cow tongue is in there somewhere
The band that they were interviewing was the local band Human Suffering. That's right, Human Suffering, the Bamberg black metal band. When they showed up, I had to stop myself from laughing and stick to "sprechen kein deutsch." So we filmed for about an hour, then found out the audio was corrupt, refilmed, and then hung out for a bit. Thankfully, I guess, I used to be into some pretty hardcore metal bands and they spoke descent English, so we had something to talk about, but they were so surprised I hadn't heard of such and such pagan/metalcore/black/gothic/etc rock bands from America. I told them I really liked rap, and that effectively killed the conversation.
Human Suffering
So far, I've loved Germany. Bamberg is kind of a hidden gem and it's been great to have somebody to hang out with and talk to, and it's really nice to have a free room and breakfast/dinner. This town also boasts that it has more beer breweries per capita than any other town in the world. I believe it. They also have a special beer here called Rauchbier, German for smoked beer, and it's pretty good. It's very beautiful and just makes me more excited to be in Europe finally. It's weird that now the locals don't immediately know I'm a foreigner by looking at me - I'm white, they're white, so they assume I speak the language, etc.
Tonight I take a night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia where I'll do my first bit of couchsurfing! I'm very interested to see what some of these more eastern countries are like, but I've only heard good things about them, so we'll see what we see!
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