Since I live in the mountain area, it is kinda depressing to see fog and snow every day. But thanks to Weihnachtsmarkt, happiness comes to cheer people up. Weihnachtsmarkt is a street market, which available only near Christmas time. The word Weihnacht it self-means Christmas in German. At a bigger city in Germany, they were open a month before Christmas. Even some of them still opened until New Year. Here people can see and buy some stuff, souvenirs, Christmas decor, foods, drinks, snacks, or just enjoying the night and have a chit-chat with friends.

Last year, my beloved town Clausthal didn’t have one. So I and some friends decided to visit Goslar. Goslar is one of the most accessible towns to reach from Clausthal. And this town is also one of my top list of my fave town. There were not many differences between the two last years, all of my favorite snacks still there. Champignon with Rahmsauce, camembert, Schneeballen, Feuerzangenbowle, roast almonds, skewer, roast duck, and Glühwein, of course, are my lovely choice every year. But since I’m a bit restricted with food nowadays, I didn’t pick all of them. Some interesting stuff that I bought were local brand coffee beans, a rock, and a glass of Glögg.

I’m sure that this Glögg store wasn’t there last two years ago. A friend of mine said that this warm drink is initially from Scandinavia since she studied in Sweden. Usually, I had Glühwein as my warm drink, but my curiosity drove me to taste it. So I bought one without overthinking. Astonishing! Although it is also a spiced wine, it is different from my beloved Goslarsche Glühwein. It was light, but somehow man can easily scent the basic spices: cinnamon, clove and a bit ginger.

As my tongue had the first contact with the fluid that I sip, the scenery with the icy weather around me transformed into a tropical garden. It was a typical tropical fruit garden that I know from my country. I checked the plant and examed the fruit. This firm super Saiyan fruit is pineapple! I shout it! Yea, it is pineapple. Tasteful. Spiced wine with pineapple as an aftertaste. Oh, wait! I saw something at the bottom of my cup. I used the given teaspoon to pick one of them. And this thing made the drink sexier than Glühwein. I discovered a cherry down there. Then my friend explained that usually there should be almonds or raisins down there. The combination just perfect for my tongue. Welcome to the list of my fave drink Glögg.

The situation becomes warmer and warmer, though the weather was cold. We sneaked into Weihnachtswald and fortunately found an empty sweet spot to chat. The direct translation from Weihnachtswald is Christmas forest. Using a specific spell, a small plaza transformed into a small forest covered by Spruces. And the tree shielded us from the cold wind. Perfect place to enjoy the drink and have a conversation. Food, drink, and friends are perfect.

After some days, I ask my Swedish friend, that I call Birdie. She isn’t sure where this drink comes. But we do believe that this Glögg is from Scandinavian since it has different taste as Germany Glühwein. But please correct us if we are wrong. On the other hand, she doesn’t like Glögg. She said, Glögg has an odd taste, and it is very sweet. She isn’t that much of an alcohol drinker anyway. She indeed fined that Glögg has oddly mixed spices just like mentioned before plus star anise. And she thinks that Goslarsche Glögg is madness because they put cherry at the bottom instead of nut or raisin. Haha, this Glögg is interesting.

Tag der Arbeit, Labour Day, a public holiday to honors the labor movement. It is 1st May in Germany. Germany’s Labour Day is no different at all compared to Indonesia’s Labours Day, people rally on the street, voicing their demands. Everything went well, no violence, no riot, and no bloodshed. Well, that was in Bielefeld. I don’t know what happened in a more prominent city like Berlin.

That day we went to Detmold. Planned by Natasha and Clara, and then Mas Adit and Mas Bing joined in. Mas has literally translated as big bro. It is origin Javanese. But most Indonesian used it when addressing a male person in a polite way or someone who is older. At Detmold, we met Biga, a young Maestro who studied at Hochschule für Musik Detmold. He guided us and told about the town. Fun fact: Famous composer such as Wagner and Brams also domiciled here.

We continued our journey to Teutoburger Wald. Biga said that it is going to be a leisurely 5 km wander. In fact, it wasn’t 5 km, it was 1 km shorter, but it was extreme uphill because this trail is a cut corners. We lost the way while following people, but it was nothing. In no time, we reached our primary purpose: Hermannsdenkmal.

Since we were there, we collected information that we like. Here are some facts, please correct me if I’m wrong:

    That big statue at the top is Arminius, a character from old Greek. He is a symbol of victory and glory.
    He wears Roman-style clothing and stands like Roman. Left foot forth and have a little gap.
    He faces southwest, France, and Roman Empire, where the world power was there.
    Engraving on the sword:
    DEUTSCHE: EINIGKEIT: MEINE: STAERKE
    MEINE: STAERKE: DEUTSCHLANDS: MACHT

            (GERMAN: UNITY: MY: STRENGTH
             MY: STRENGTH: GERMANY: POWER)

    Engraving at the shield: TREUFEST (Dominik Besier, Ph.D. Student, presumes that the word comes from TREU (loyal) and FEST (fixed, tightly). So maybe TREUFEST is tightly loyal )
    Its ankle is about 80-90 cm. Perhaps half of our height.
    Designed by Ernst von Bandel
    End of erection 16th August 1875

Our next destination was Paderborn. At that time Bielefeld has no KFC. We went to KFC and visited Castle Neuhaus. This castle now functions as Realschule. As we arrived, the event just ended. There were some cool and classic cars, Italian Maserati and Chevy. We don’t understand about cars, so we decided to move, take some pictures with castle and tulips. While waiting for the bus, we found that morphine was discovered by Friedrich Sertürner here in Paderborn. Another fact revealed :D

It was 21.30, but before the sun set, we push our self to visit Signal Iduna Stadium, Dortmund. Rumor said that this stadium is the biggest in Germany. We ended our journey here visited Borussia Dortmund BVB. After that we just went back home, exhausted.

That is how Dio Brando pronounces The World. Dio is one of my favorite villains from the third part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and The World is his Stand. I’m not going to discuss that here. But I need some cool title here since this is going to be the first post. So I decide to write this Dio Brando stuffs.

Like most of the people want, I also want to travel around the world. I want to see the world. See its beauty. See the interaction between living organisms and the Mother Earth. Understand and learn something from it. As we know, our Earth is giving her best to us, though human sometimes greedy and insane enough to exploit and bring destruction to her. Hopefully, I can see it before my or its time is up.
​
This world is too large for us, small human, to explore. Although the technology gives us more opportunity to travel, it is still difficult to do, because it cost a lot. But thanks to God, my parents, and all people who support me; I still can study, work, save some money, and travel (with friends if possible). Even it cost money, time-consuming and occasionally frustrating, I will do it again and again. It’s time to broaden the horizon.

I want to see ZA WARUDO! WRYYYYYYYYY!