Germany, Day 2

Tuesday morning we got a late start after catching up on the sleep we'd lost on Monday. We got showered and had some bread and pizza for breakfast. Then Johannes took us out in his VW van ("Big Red," as we called it) to the marketplace in his town. His friend Morris drove, as Johannes's ankle was still healing and none of us could drive the stick-shift van). Eike came too, and after looking around at the quaint shops, restaurants, and other various buildings, we stopped at an Italian gelateria for some green apple icecream-- DELICIOUS! After a little driving tour of Osterode, we stopped back at Johannes's house to get directions for our next destination. Then we picked up Andi and headed up to the mine. The drive was beautiful, as were most of the drives that week, through the Harz Mountains, and we were so happy that Johannes's friends wanted to hang out with us! Once at the mine, Johannes bought us tickets, and we walked around and looked at the exhibits for a bit. Johannes translated some of the captions on the exhibits and gave us some background on the mine itself. then we went down into a part of the mine where there was a little bar and a water canal. We waited for the party before us to return, put on our hard hats, and hopped into the wooden boat. we made it to the end of the long, dark, wet stream by pulling on the rope that was secured above our heads. Once we reached the end, we all turned around and fought our way back out of the tunnel. It was so much fun! It reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disney World! Then we got out, and the boys had a beer/smoke break at the bar (all the kids in Germany smoke. don't worry, we yelled at them a LOT).

Later we had a tour of another part of the mine. We rode down with several German tourists (two families with cute kids) in a green train that reminded Elizabeth and me of Circle M Corral in Minocqua (where we both happened to vacation as children). We had on our hard hats once again, and the German boys sang loud German tunes as the rusty train carried us deep into the mine. We got out, and our adorable German tour guide showed us around the different parts of the mine. Eike and the kids in our tour group even got to do a little picking and drilling! Johannes tried his best to do some quick translating on the tour, and we got a good general idea of what the guide was saying, I think. About 100 wet and slippery steps later (poor Johannes-- still on his crutches), we got back on the train and emerged from the mine with growling stomachs. the boys decided to introduce us to a German delight for dinner (although it is really Turkish in origin): the Döner. we grabed our glorious pitas filled with meat and salad and God knows what else and devoured them in the van to escape the chilly evening air.

When we returned to the Grammel family mansion, we chillaxed in Johannes's room (and taught Johannes the meaning of "chillax"). Elizabeth and I took a quick power nap in Johannes's crazy-comfortable bed. Then we got up, freshened up, watched a little soccer, and went to Hemingway's (the bar in town) with Lucas and one of Johannes's girl friends (I don't know her name). The drinks in Germany are so cheap! Only €2 per drink (unlike in Maynooth where they are €5 per drink!) Our German friends opened our eyes to a mixed drink called a "keba"-- cherry juice, banana juice and vodka... I know that doesn't sound good, but it is very delicious. We listened to some techno music in the smoking room which made Elizabeth want to do a kick line, and Elizabeth said something profound:

"I never knew how much I liked bananas. I guess when you leave home, you learn about yourself; you find out what you love, and you find out who you are."

Aww, Elizabeth...