Marburg Doorways

 There are a lot of interesting and beautiful doorways in Europe. Here's a small selection of doors, gates, and arches I spotted in Marburg, Germany.

Marburg, Germany

Marburg is a quaint German village along the fairy tale route. It is about an hour drive from Frankfurt. Marburg prides itself on being a Blindenstadt (which is a city adapted to make life for the vision impaired and the blind as easy as possible). The Blindenstudienanstalt (or Blista) is an educational institute for the blind that was started during World War 1 for the young men blinded in the war. I think my favorite thing in the city was the crosswalk sign encourages helping the blind across the road (with a heart and all).

Marburg you can visit the Marburger Schloss (also known as Landgrafenschloss Marburg) which is an extension of the local university and used as a museum now. We heard stories of Martin Luther (the famous German theologian). Martin Luther's theological beliefs formed the Lutheran religion. 

Being true to the blind friendly reputation of the city, all the signs were in braille also!

Another fun thing to do - check out some artwork that is honoring those brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, best known for their fairy tales. The brothers traveled around and learned the folklore. They then produced a manuscript of all those famous stories you know (53 in all!). A few years back, different artists made artwork around the city honoring those tales. Let's see if you can figure them out.

A. 

B. 

C.

D. 

E. 

There are 16 in all, but these were the only ones I spotted.....let's see if you were able to identify the fairy tales by their object. 

A. Cinderella's shoe

B. Snow White (technically the evil Queen's magic mirror)

C. Little Red Riding Hood's food basket

D. The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats

E. The Frog Prince

Not technically a fairy tale....but cool unicorn on top of the pharmacy sign!

It ended up being a fun day trip I took that was organized by the CLO office. We also hit one of the Christmas markets that had begun.....but I'll mention that in my Christmas market post (coming after this year's Christmas Market season is over - we have plans to hit at least 2 new markets). On that note, I will end with a view of Marburger Schloss atop the hill from the Christmas market.

Monday's Moment: Finished in time! Advent Calendar

 

Monday's Moment: Beautiful Tree

 

Bonn, Germany

So I did a day trip with some friends to Bonn, Germany. It's a little town near Koln (Cologne), Germany, with lots of fun stops in the area. Our initial destination was the Haribo factory outlet.

You know it's going to be dangerous when you can grab a buggy outside! Even though Haribo is sold in the U.S. it just tastes better (likely different preservatives and dyes) in the E.U. 

As you peruse all the rows and aisles, you discover the outlet has so many neat varieties that are not spotted in local grocery stores. Such as....

Not sure if those are pickle flavored gummies or just pickle shaped. In addition to pug shapes, there was airplanes, German flag colors, jumbo bags of your favorite flavor....you get the idea. The outlet also has a decent variety of vegan gummies! 

You can also feel like a celebrity when leaving and pose with the Haribo bear! The store is located at Friesdorfer Str. 125, 53175 Bonn, Germany. To view their website click here.

After filling our bags with goodies, we drove over to downtown Bonn to walk around a bit. The city has Beethoven statues everywhere (this one was wearing a mask....this trip was a while back...lol). 

We walked past the house Beethoven was born in. We happened up a carnival opening celebration. Here's a group dressed as orange is the new black. Fun fact: German carnival season officially opens at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th of the 11th month. Carnival pauses for Advent and Christmas and then resumes in January until Fat Tuesday. 

Then we found a place for lunch....I partook in some Spätzle. 

We hit a few shops for some Christmas decorations. Happened up on a creepy albino pigeon.

Learned Bonn has an eScooter rental program called "Clara". I thought it was neat as Clarissa could have a personalized scooter....lol.

On our drive back to Frankfurt, we hit the Birkenstock outlet (Rheinstraße 2-4, 53604 Bad Honnef, Germany). Fun fact - some styles of Birks are made with vegan leather or felt.....so I was able to find a pair!! (I don't eat meat, why would I wear meat skin?). I didn't take any pictures (not sure why not...lol) but I got a pair of sandals and got Richard a pair of warm and fuzzy socks.

Monday's Moment: Guess who's 50!

 

Monday's Moment: Hidden Mickey