Die Hauptstadt des Saarlandes

Say "Hallo" to Saarbrücken-- the capital of the Saarland and the city I called home this past summer. Here are my top 10 earthfaves, or favorite places, in the city.

1. Vapiano

We ate here at least once a week. The pasta, pizza, and apperitivos are delicious and made right in front of you. I love the decor, picnic tables for dining outside, warm ambience, and the rosemary and basil plants on every table.

2. Daniel's Garten

My boss, Daniel, has a garden which is great for grill parties. We celebrated the Fourth of July here.

3. St. Johanner Markt
The center of the city is charming and lined with outdoor cafes, ice cream parlors, restaurants, book shops, bars, art galleries, and boutiques. On Saturday mornings the square turns into an open market for fresh fruits & vegetables, eggs, bread, wine, honey, and other local products. The city's French influence is most noticeable here. In the afternoons and evenings, it is a great place to sit and people watch and kill the hour.

4. Viva Zapata!

This is probably my favorite restaurant in SB. They have a Mittagessen special called "Tapas Marathon," which is all you can eat Spanish tapas for 9,80. I'm also a fan of the outdoor courtyard with bier garten style seating and the Madrid house wine.

5. Schlossplatz

The view from the castle walls is one of the best in the city. There is also a cafe and bier garten. And in the summer you can attend free weekly concerts at Sonntags ans Schloss. 

6. My favorite Eiscafe

I never actually learned the name of this ice cream parlor since it did not have a sign, but I frequently ordered its coffee ice cream and mango sorbet (not together, of course).

7. Zum Stiefel

This historic Gasthaus is a great place to try Saarländisch specialties as well as one of the beers that they brew on-sight.

8. Ludwigskirche

This church is so unique due to its square shape and solid white interior. It would be a gorgeous place to have a wedding.

9. Deutsch-Französischer Garten
These gardens are a nice place to relax or picnic with friends. There is a pond with paddle boats, several cafes, cable cars, a miniature train, and stage for live performances.

10. Der Hauptbahnhof 

This is arguably one of the ugliest train stations in Germany, but it was such an important location for me over the summer and I have many memories there. It's where I mailed postcards home, shopped on Sundays when nothing else was opened, welcomed and said goodbye to many a friend, and set off on many adventures.

SaarLorLux

My past two Saturdays have been like this--I wake up. Walk to the Hauptbahnhof and meet Youlia. Choose a city in France that we’ve never been to before and buy two tickets there. Stop by the Bäckerei and pick up a coffee and pastry. Hop on a train and go to France. Roam around a new city without a map. Get lost. Drink coffee. Drink wine. Repeat. Buy a bottle of our favorite French shampoo and a baguette. And at the end of the day, head back to Saarbrücken. I could get used to use this.

One redeeming quality of the Saarland is its close proximity to France. It’s almost enough to make me forgive it for the streak of unlucky weather this summer. Almost. With a SaarLorLux ticket, one can use unlimited train travel in the Saarland, Luxembourg, and Lorraine territories for a day. This ticket allowed me to explore two cities in Lorraine (Metz and Nancy) during the last two Saturdays of my internship.

Metz and Nancy are lovely cities built around rivers, with gorgeous architecture and old churches. It amazes me how these two cities, which are less than two hours away, can be so drastically different from Saarbrücken.

METZ

NANCY

Youlia and I make great travel companions because we enjoy the same things. She shares my philosophy that a city is best experienced without an itinerary and from the views of different café tables.

I don’t know when I became such a Francophile, but I’m afraid that I came to Germany and fell in love with France. Perhaps my fascination with all things French began after my weekend in Paris. The culture just seems to resonate better with my personal taste and flair. I think France just does some things better—like food, wine, fashion, music, and language. Even the toilet paper is more stylish—it’s pink!  I am starting to wonder if I chose the wrong language to learn.  Then again, maybe I just find France so appealing because it is a refreshing escape and contrast from my life in Germany. It is too soon to tell if this is just a phase or a long-lasting obsession.

4. Juli

Independence Day is one of my favorite American holidays, and this is the second year in a row that I have celebrated it away from the homeland. But just like last summer in Capri, I found other Americans to share the day with. Youlia, Necco, and I (or "Team America" as we like to call ourselves) invited the rest of our colleagues to celebrate with us in a true American fashion. After work, we all walked to Daniel's garden where we had a BBQ. It is a summer tradition here in the Saarland to cook meat over a special swinging grill called a Schwenker (pictured below). The meal was delicious and afterwards we introduced everyone to an American campfire favorite--s'mores! Only instead of graham crackers & Hershey's squares, we used Butterkekse and Nutella. Yum! We also had sparklers (which took me almost 2 hours to find in town and I was so excited when I finally found them, that I bought over 100!) It was a great celebration and certainly a Fourth of July I won't soon forget. Happy 235th America!

"Oh, it's home again and home again, America for me!

I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea
To the blessed land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars."  

-Henry Van Dyke

altstadtfest

Last weekend was the annual Altstadtfest in Saarbrücken. The main square was lined with stands selling food, drinks, and sweets from all over the world, as well as specialties from other regions of Germany. Though the weather was cold and it rained the whole weekend, I still spent the majority of it outdoors enjoying the festivities.

So my boss at earthfaves is also a DJ for this group called the Robot Scientists, and on Friday they had a gig at a lounge called Liquido. I met the rest of my coworkers there in the evening and after listening to some "spaced out disco," we all went dancing at a club called n8werk.

The next morning I met the interns at a cafe for breakfast. Afterwards, I took a nap to catch up on some lost sleep from the night before and then we met up again in the evening to enjoy some of the concerts and activities of the festival.

We ended up going back to n8werk on Saturday night for a spring break themed party. Apparently, throwing USA college spring break parties is the cool thing to do here in Saarbrücken, because this is already the second one I've been to. I find it is interesting to see their perceptions of American college students over here. I think they must have formed their ideas about us from watching American Pie movies or bad MTV shows because the decorations and entertainment at the diskothek were a bit raunchy and ridiculous.

On Sunday I went to Mettlach with Ludivine, Jesus, Diego, Mathias, and Diego (número 2). The goal was to make it to the top of the hill to see the Saarschleife, the most famous landscape of the Saar River. Unfortunately we never quite made it there, due to both a lack of prior planning and the constant rain. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the train ride, good company, and the quiet walk in nature.

I got to see how a dam works up close-- it was actually pretty neat.

Even though Saarbrücken is no Berlin, I am always surprised by how much there is to do here and throughout the Saarland. There are several festivals this summer and lots of opportunities to experience some culture at a play, film, or concert. Because it is a university town, there are several nightlife options and always something to do on the weekends. I still have a lot of sights to see before I can call myself a true Saarbrücker including the churches, museums, and castle. This Saturday I'm road tripping to Luxembourg with the other interns, but more on that later. Today I'm just relaxing and staying out of the rain on yet another day off in Germany. Have I mentioned how much I love all these holidays?

Photo Cred: Ludivine, Diego, Nachtwerk

fun & games

Last week at work, the interns (and Daniel) took a "short coffee break" which turned out to be a couple of hours long. We decided to go shopping for a present for Guy's newborn baby. And when we stopped into a toy store, we got a little distracted...

how cute are these hand puppets?

Ludivine teaching Jesus & Diego some German (from a baby book)

Jesus and Daniel battling it out with wooden toys

On Wednesday, Annika invited me to go with her and her friend Verena to a party in Saarlouis. We had to take the train there and since we were running late, we sprinted so that we would not miss it. When we hopped on board, panting from exhaustion, the conductor announced that the train would be running five minutes behind schedule. Of course. Twenty minutes later we met Annika's friend Christian at the station and walked to his grandparents' house which was really cool. My inner design nerd was loving the earthy art pieces, exhibit lighting, and giant bookshelf. The house felt like a cottage and an art museum at the same time. I enjoyed the opportunity to interact with German students and practice the language, but after more than five hours of straight German, my head was spinning!

Annika, Verena, & Me

with Annika & her friends (Breton stripes are clearly in vogue)

Thursday was a holiday in Germany. I love that Germans get a lot of holidays and vacation time! I spent the day off with a few of the interns. We decided to take a day trip to... FRANCE! Okay so it's really not that exciting. We just went to a swim center in Sarreguemines (which is only a 20 minute drive from here.) I'm not even sure if I can count it as my first trip to France, but it was still somewhere new nonetheless. The sky was cloudless, but the water was too cold in the outside pool so I only swam indoors. We packed a nice picnic. Raafi made chicken curry and I made everyone try PB&J sandwiches-- sophisticated American cuisine, I know. We played volleyball, soccer, frisbee, and several games of cards. Ludivine taught me a few French words and I practiced them twenty times before I felt brave enough to go up to the concessions window and say "Je voudrais un café s'il vous plaît." Now if I go to Paris later in the summer, I can at least order a coffee. I ended the day with a nap on the lawn. It was a perfect, relaxing way to spend the holiday and I came home with a slight sunburn to serve as a souvenir from the day.

Ludivine and Raafi playing badminton

my French skills are about as good as Joey's on FRIENDS :)

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." -Kahlil Gibran

(Photos 4  & 5 courtesy of Annika)