Shenanigans & Schadenfreude

For context, "Schadenfreude" is the German phrase meaning "harm-joy" (laughing at others' pain), and I am using the word "shenanigans" very loosely because this group doesn't get up to much real trouble; it's 10:30 pm in Berlin and everyone is already in bed.

In about six hours, I'll be dragging myself out of bed to catch the train to Prague for the weekend, but I thought I would at least start a post for this week while I'm still conscious. I actually started writing last night and fell asleep after two sentences. That's how exhausted I am! However, this past week has been pretty fantastic.

Cliché picture time!

Paris was absolutely breathtaking, for the most part. It is a big city, and I went in very open-minded about the French people. Just after we arrived, Rebecca and I were in the main train station buying metro passes for the weekend. The man behind us grabbed my backpack, spoke in rapid French, and shoved both of us to the side so he could get his ticket. As we were forced to walk to the back of the line, I was shocked speechless that someone could be so rude! Unfortunately, my first impression of Parisians was not favorable, but I did not let that incident ruin my time there. The fist day, we went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and walked for miles along the river and city center to just look at all the lovely architecture. Everywhere I turned, I saw something interesting. Our hotel was tiny and located on a rather dank, smelly street with strange American [prom] dress shops, but the hotel itself was clean, pleasant, and had helpful staff.

The exquisite Notre Dame

The following day, we hit the ground running and visited three (yes, three...) museums. We tried our luck at the Louvre first, entered via the subway stop on the underground level, and only waited in line for about 20 minutes! The size of the museum was amazing - I had no idea it was that gigantic. I enjoyed the sculpture section the most, and after several hours looking through just two of the three vast wings, we decided to move on. The building itself is a work of art, and it is definitely a must-see of Paris. Next, we walked to the Musée d'Orsay, and I enjoyed this one a bit more than the Louvre because it was less overwhelming in size, displayed the Monet water lily paintings, and had an open rooftop with a beautiful view of the city. We also visited the Rodin sculpture garden (containing the famous "The Thinker"), Luxembourg Gardens, and Notre Dame.  I left Paris wishing I had more time, but also glad to be returning to the much more welcoming German people.

Monday was a long day full of neverending travel. We took an absurdly early train back to Cologne, then met with the group and we were off to Hannover! I was strangely excited for this part of the trip because I've always wanted to see the Hanoverian horses. Once we checked in at the hotel, which was pleasant and clean but also more old-fashioned and utilitarian, we immediately left for the Hannover zoo.

Sassy pelican tries to eat Chris' camera

Our tour guide at the zoo was a cheery fellow wearing a goofy safari outfit and feathered hat. He explained that this zoo's ideology was to keep multiple species together in more open areas to more closely resemble the wild, though I don't think this is an entirely new or different concept than what I've seen in American zoos. It was a very pleasant tour, with a boat ride through some of the exhibits and a friendly pelican that we were allowed to pet (so soft!). The elephant exhibit was not as big or modern as the Cologne zoo and definitely didn't have protective barriers for the keepers, but it had an interesting Asian theme. It's amusing that European zoos keep North American species such as raccoons, and I'm still blown away that dogs are allowed everywhere. Overall, I really enjoyed the visit. We went back to town and devoured pizza (Mira's favorite thing ever) at Vapiano, an Italian chain restaurant, then basically went directly to bed.

The following day, we visited the Hannover vet school's cattle clinic. The university buildings were a series of large brick barns, somewhat reminiscent of my undergraduate school. The cattle clinic alone spanned several big buildings, and we got to see their surgery set-up, which included a small section of auditorium seating for the students to watch, treatment areas, and stalls. The vet who guided us was great, answering all our questions about the school and information about the clinic. Veterinary schools in Germany are 5 years plus another half year of just examinations, and Hannover has 250 students in each class! They also aren't "doctors" when they get out - I would be called "Frau Kulhawik" instead of "Dr. Kulhawik". The students are admitted around 18 years of age based on grades and a questionnaire about their interests, and the government pays for their education. Very interesting indeed. While we were there, we got to watch claw-trimming and treatment of a minor abscess on a Holstein on their very old-fashioned tilt-table. The vet told us it's very cheap to keep a cow in the clinic (about 9€ per day and free treatments) because the university wants farmers to have an incentive to bring them in for students to practice on. That's an amazingly simple concept I wish existed in the US.

Can I live here?

After the cow clinic, we took another train out to a small town called Celle to visit the stallion testing center. It was an enormous, beautiful facility out in the middle of nowhere, with cross country courses and dressage arenas surrounding the brick barns. We got to tour the facilities and watch a stallion collection with a recent vet-graduate who was working on her Master's in reproduction research. The center ships out up to 70+ samples of semen throughout Europe each day, so they don't do much live cover or AI at the facility. Pretty much anything with horses makes me happy, so I really enjoyed this tour.

Hannover

We returned to Hannover and did an impromptu walking tour of the historical part of the town, which I am really glad we did. We got to see the remains of a bombed church, Shannon climbing trees, and the lovely "new" (100 year old) town hall before going to dinner at a brewery. This restaurant was located in a cellar, which used to be just a brewery in the 1300s. I ordered a very German meal: stuffed  rinder (beef) with mashed potatoes and red cabbage, which was delicious. Shannon ordered "sauerfleisch", which she thought would be beef with vinegar, as the menu suggested. The waitress actually brought out a tasty-looking porkroast and potatoes, but Shannon sent it back since it wasn't what she ordered and got a blob of what we could only describe as meat-jellO in return. It was the most disgusting piece of food I've ever seen, but she was a good sport and actually tried to eat some of it. Watching this spectacle was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time (at Shannon's expense) but the moral of the story is: never order sauerfleisch in Germany.

The last morning in Hannover was spent at a university research farm with a herd of dairy cattle, some beef cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and ducks. The farmer had an interesting perspective about combining concepts of animal welfare with sustainable agriculture; he was a very practical man and I enjoyed listening to what he had to say. Animal welfare is becoming a big issue in Germany - they have already passed laws to ban beak trimming of birds, tail-docking on pigs, and multiple housing regulations. In the post-war era, the people needed mass production of food to provide for a broken country, but now the issue has shifted toward saving animals from suffering. At this facility, they obviously abide by the laws but also show students what they will see in a typical farm setting. The only specialty was the milker, which milks one cow at a time completely robotically, and was in the free-stall area so cows could wander up and be milked as they pleased. It's obviously not the most efficient equipment, but very interesting to see.

Since this post has already been obnoxiously long and there is so much to report, I will wait to write about Berlin and Prague until we leave Berlin in a few days.

Until then, na zdraví!

~Andrea