-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ctjxlcM2Yw
Although this castle was originally destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt and now serves as .. yes, a shopping mall.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSs1rjExO_I
Pieces of the Berlin wall have found their way all over the world, this particular large piece found its way to Braunschweig.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lVZzG85Q00
There are many lion statues throughout Germany, this video is of one in Braunschweig. I believe there’s some other stuff as well in the video, but heck, what do I know? :)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4wDsifCSw4
This video taken from within the Braunschweig dome mentioned in my last post. I’m not sure how good the lighting was, so have no clue how it actually came out.
One thing that really impressed me though is the acoustics of the dome. It’s one of those places you wouldn’t want to whisper something in as if you were to do so, people on the other side could probably hear it as if you were standing next to them.
If needed, here’s a direct link.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39y1u1hWh3A
Braunschweig has a very famous and very old dome. When I started taking this video, I thought it was the actual dome we were videoing. Of course this was not the case as we were too far away, but I think we got some nice video of some other old buildings including Braunschweig’s town hall.
Again, a direct link can be found hereGermany201007/15/2010Germany201007/15/2010.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1zbibxgFiw
While visiting a former classmate in Braunschweig earlier today, I attempted to take a few videos. Half way through this one, I realized that the sighted person with me would probably do a much better job. Of course he was confused as I had my iPhone screen turned off and as such, he was unable to see anything.
Braunschweig, like many German cities, is very old. One of the things I found most interesting, however, is that there are many Braille signs throughout the city, often accompanied with tactile models of the various buildings.
As mentioned above, i attempted taking this video, but half way through, handed the iPhone off to another person. Anyway, hopefully that will at least explain any confusion in the video.
Finally, in case you’re unable to access the video, click here for a direct link.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
[gallery]
Earlier today, we visited Schloss Marienburg , a near by castle. Assuming I’m doing this right, a very big assumption in deed, the following should be photos taken while at the castle. If I’m doing this wrong, well, I don’t know what will happen.
-
[gallery]
Earlier today, we visited Schloss Marienburg , a near by castle. Assuming I’m doing this right, a very big assumption in deed, the following should be photos taken while at the castle. If I’m doing this wrong, well, I don’t know what will happen.
-
Brief audio intro to Schloss Marienburg
Earlier today, we visited a near-by castle, the Schloss Marienburg. I
had Jenn read a brief pamphlet describing a brief history of the
castle. I’ll post more photos and commentary later, but suffice it to
say that we all had a wonderful time and got a lot out of the
experience.Steve
-
Markus jumps off the high dive
Not a long video, but today while swimming, markus again jumps off the
high dive. -
Pic of me in front of house
-
Live from Germany
The best gifts are those least expected. For those unaware, I was an exchange student to Germany in 1992, the first blind Rotary exchange student. Over the years, I’ve kept in contact with my host family and many former classmates in Germany. You can imagine my surprise when, for his 60TH birthday, my host father requested that in lieu of gifts, he would rather people donate money which would be used to purchase tickets for my family and I to come visit.And so here I am, live as it were, in Hannover Germany. I’m outside writing this at the same house where I lived during my exchange year. As I write this, I can’t help but notice how technology has evolved over the past fifteen years. Back then, I could send Emails via a dialup online service which exchanged Email with the Internet three times per day. As my host father hated my disconnecting their telephone and running cables for my modem and laptop (I didn’t even have a built in modem back then), I would compose Emails offline. Then, when my host father would go jogging, or would otherwise be gone for more than 30 minutes, I’d quickly move into action: disconnecting the phone, connecting the laptop via its international voltage converter, connecting the modem, the speech synthesizer and would then send all my composed Email. I would then retrieve new mail, disconnect everything and magically have the room back the way it was before he got home — sometimes literally as he would walk through the door. Now he, like just about everyone these days has WIFI and using a laptop to Email is, well, just a common every day thing.
I flew home from the National Federation of the Blind convention this past Wednesday arriving in Portland at 11:30 PM. Jenn then picked me up and we drove through the night to arrive early Thursday morning in New York. A few hours later, we were at JFK waiting to check in. I don’t think it was until we were actually confirmed and checked in that I really realized that this trip, something I’d hoped to be able to do was really going to happen. Of course the more immediate challenge was finding a way to keep the kids occupied for the six or so hours before our flight. Fortunately, the airport provided at least part of the solution in those really cool movable walkways, you know, the escalator like things without stairs that transport you between one area and another. Having never experienced these, the kids were immediately mesmerized. I used to think there was only so many times one could ride on those walkways, but apparently such limits don’t apply to children.
The flight was pretty uneventful and having already been awake for what seemed like forever, I don’t honestly remember much of it. The kids got to watch movies and thankfully, got to sleep. We arrived in Germany and were then taken to a train station where we met my host mother who accompanied us the rest of the way back to Hannover.
Since arriving, we’ve been keeping very busy having gone swimming, having taken a boat ride around the central lake in Hannover and having attended a fair with a really giant ferris wheel.
Tomorrow, I’m planning to show the kids a near by castle and at some point, we’ll be visiting Berlin. I’ve also had the opportunity to see some of my extended host family and neighbors some of whom still live right where they had when I left. So far, this has been an incredible, all be it surreal experience. I’m posting this blog entry both to Posterous and Tumblr as I’m not sure which one will do a better job of posting. I’m also attaching images, I’m hoping someone will comment either via the blog directly or via Twitter on whether the images actually show up. Although this is a vacation of sorts, I’m still working — got to love the Internet. Please stay tuned, more updates, including some audio ones coming soon.
Steve
subscribe via RSS