Leaving Mücke
After a short night sleeping on the floor, the whole gang woke up early in the morning to carry on with our travels. My new German friends sang a song on the balcony, and I happily listened while sipping on some hot tea. We packed up our things, hopped in a van (which must have been owned by Günni’s family)and said goodbye to the small village of Mücke. I was excited to start covering some real ground with just Dirk and I. As much fun as it was hanging out with his friends, I really wanted to just get to know Germany and get to know Dirk. We took the van to Gießen, (a larger city close to Mucke) where Dirk and I separated from our friends and caught our train.

Dirk’s Apartment
The train ride didn’t take all that long, and before we knew it, we were in Marburg. We passed a Döner shop as we walked to Dirk’s new apartment. I really liked the feel of Marburg: people living in close proximity with little yards, and cool houses. The red tile roofs is what really made me like it. Dirk’s apartment was pretty much bare. We were the first to sleep the night there. There were some unpacked boxes from his roommates but no real furniture except a floor-type futon. The thing to remember about German apartments is that when the former tenants move out, they take everything with them. Even the kitchen sink. We had bare light bulbs, and nothing but bare pipes in the kitchen. Luckily the bathroom had a toilet and sink (they usually leave that kind of stuff). I didn’t realize how portable kitchens were. Dirk said he and his roommates had a kitchen set-up arranged to come in about a month when everyone moved in.

Settling In
Dirk had some business to take care of so we made a trip to the bank, and then decided to get something to eat. Obviously, we stopped at the Döner shop and got a very tasty lunch. We brought it home, ate it on our boxes and then rested a little bit. Luckily the phone lines were working at the apartment, so we were able to check email and dirk was able to take care of some more apartment/college related stuff. We rested a bit and then made a trip to Aldi. We picked up some things for the next couple of days: grey bread, beer in plastic bottles, sliced meat, and liverwurst (something I learned dirk loved to eat no matter what time of day) and some yogurt. As we walked home, the overcast skies began to spit at us. We chilled out some more and then ate a modest dinner of some of the things we purchased.

Exploring Marburg
After dinner, we decided to go into downtown Marburg. This was my first time seeing what I would call “traditional” German buildings. The large painted timbers crisscrossed white stucco walls. The windowsills were overflowing with colorful flowers and the cobblestone roads were narrow and winding. City centers like this truly make me wish we had more historical areas like this in America. As the sun went down behind the hills, we made our way up towards Marburg castle. The road leading up to the castle was cool enough, but when I saw the castle itself, I was pretty giddy. The view from the castle wall was amazing. It overlooked the entire city. I could see cars flowing by on the highway and city shops turning off lights for the night. Dirk and I threw back a couple of plastic beers we packed in a backpack and then made our way back the to the apartment.

Turning In
When we returned home, I uploaded some travel pictures to flickr, made a quick blog post and then prepared for bed. Dirk and I unrolled the futon, hopped in our sleeping bags, prayed, and then went to sleep.

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 6: Open this map