I just thought everyone would like to see a photo of my office, i.e. the place where the magic happens. In the foreground is the coffeepot, the power-house of any german outfit. I work right behind the coffee pot, which is nice, because then I am always in the center of what is going on.

Last weekend Carola and I went on a little holiday to France. We went to Strausbourg and Colmar. We also visited Freiburg, which was quite interesting for me as I had done a project in my German class on Freiburg. It was all very pretty.



There was huge Cathedral in Strausbourg that was built in the 13th C. Napoleon used this church for his signaling system to communicate troop movements throughout France. At night they had a huge light show on the facade of the building and it was very nice to see.



We went to the Strausbourg city museum, which was very interesting (and cheap) and it gave us a good sense of the history of the city and Carola made me wear the costume of the city.




We spent most of the time walking around the city. Here you can see the Cathedral behind some old houses.





As Straubourg is located on the Rhine, it was of great stratigic importance for many many years. Behind Carola is one of the defenses used to defend the crossing of the river.












Next we went to Freiburg, which is back on the other side of the Rine, so it is in Germany. It was nice to be back in a place where I could understand people and they could understand me. However, this does not include the Korean kids in our hostel.





Freiburg is quite cool in that it has intricate stone designs in front of every shop. It must have taken quite a while to lay all these stones.





On the way home we traveled through Colmar, FR. It is quite a pretty little town. They produce alot of wine in this region, mainly white wine.




The sculptor who made the Statue of Liberty was born in Colmar. And we had the pleasure to visit his old house. Inside were his original clay models of the Statue. It was all very interesting and an unexpected place to find someone so involved with America.

Dear All,

First let me say how many times I wanted to update this blog, but have not found the time. I have been working a lot at my internship. It seems like every night there is something to do, and despite having no tv or really anything to, it seems like I am always busy shopping for food, taking my clothes to the Laundromat, or something like this.



One of the most important things that I did, was when I went to IKEA and purchased a table and two chairs for my apartment. This I needed desparately, and it was very good to get. Allthough without a car I had to take a bus and train to get home. The photo is of me waiting for the bus.







Carola and I had a nice dinner with her flatmates. The guy on my left taught me the proper way to pour a German beer into a German bottle. I have been practicing, but I am not as good as he is.








Carola got these very beautiful flowers for her birthday. She was very surprised.









A couple weekends ago we went to a festival that reenacted roman times. They had centurians there that would bark orders to each other in latin. Very interesting.





We went to the festival with Carola's Aunts family. They live in Oberaudorf, close to where the festival took place. It was a very relaxing time and I think everyone enjoyed it. They also had a huge catapult which flung stones very far. They said this was the only catapult of its kind in the world. I thought that they should go see the Manitou Springs fruitcake throwing contest.




Near the place where the festival was held there was a huge cave which had been made from where people took their mill stones from. The type of rock was very well suited for making mill stones so I guess over hundreds of years people always came here to chip out their new mill stone. Very interesting place. A man-made cave.






A few weeks ago the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX) had an open house. So Carola and I went to see what goes on. It was surprisingly quiet, as most trading is done electronically these days, but interesting nonetheless.

People gathered at the most scenic square in Frankfurt for a Catholic service this morning.



The view from my "kitchen" window.

Okay, I know the blog name is luke in Colorado, but I didn't feel like setting up a new blog just for my time in Frankfurt. All is going well here, I live in a nice, but spartan place near the German stock exchange. It is a nice part of Frankfurt to be in. I have gotten as settled as I can for the moment. Today is a public holiday so only cafes are open for business. I was going to get some things that I need for my apartment, but that is going to have to wait for another day. Work is going well. Things are a little slow there right now as I think alot of people are away on business and will be back on Monday. I think I will like it and it is very interesting. I bought a cooler to keep my milk and cheese and stuff in, so that was very necessary. Food at the grocery store is very very cheap here, so that is wonderful. This weekend I will go to Munich and hopefully get a bike and a hotplate to cook on. This will improve my life greatly. I am tired of instant noodles. The weather is warm and humid here. Yesterday I finally got my visa. It was a crazy affair where Carola and I ended up running throught the streets of Frankfurt trying to find the American consulate (after being mistankenly told to go to the Mexican consulate) P.S. if you ever get lost in Frankfurt the Mexicans are very helpful about it. Well, I can say that the smoothies are good and the beer is better here. Allthough a word of caution to those who would consider starting a war out of some egoism of the nation: Frankfurt used to be a beautiful city, but in the rushed reconstruction that took place in the 1950s, there are still some huge scars of ugliness on this city.



My refridgerator.

Over spring break I went with Carola to visit Tim in St Louis. We had a good time. More posts to come. I am back!