Anttilat

The last morning in Braunschweig was quite sad. We got up early to pack our luggage and have some breakfast. Around 7:30 it was time for the Finnish group to squeeze into cars and get to the railway station. We said goodbye to the English group and to the Germans who had gotten there so early to say goodbye. The English group would still have a day in Braunschweig as their train didn't leave until that evening.

Friday was our last day together. Whole morning was free time. I went with Tuomo to shop for souvenirs. We found out that (board and card) games are way cheaper in Germany than in Finland. Unfortunately all of their rules and such are in German and they tend to be a bit big in size so we couldn't use all our money to expand our game collection. Our main criteria for souvenir was small size so we bought some chocolate and a shopping bag that said Braunschweig in it. We found a little restaurant where we used the last chance to eat schnizels and have German beer before going home.

On Thursday it was time to pack our things again and leave lovely Siloah behind. There was an opportunity for another hike that day with amazing views on top of beautiful hills. This time however six of us decided not to go on the hike for different reasons. My reason was a really sore throat and quite nasty cough.

On Wednesday our group was rather quiet for the whole day. We were going to see Buchenwald's concentration camp. We packed our lunch and hopped into minibuses.

We ate our lunch in a nice, quiet place by some fields close to some restaurant. I had been a little scared beforehand of what the visit to concentration camp might feel like. After the lunch all the things I had heard of such places and the war started to flood into my mind. I actually felt a little ill when we turned to the road that took us to Buchenwald.

Tuesday morning was quite peaceful, there wasn't a horrible hurry like in some other mornings. Everybody seemed to get their luggage packed in time. Breakfast included some wheat porrage and elderberry (Holunder) soup from last night which was absolutely great.

On Monday morning we packed our luggage and ourselves into minibuses and headed again towards the Harz area. Buses went some 130km/h on autobahn and still several cars and motorcycles effortlessly passed us. This time Harz wasn't our goal. We hopped out of the cars in some small village outside Gotha.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed day. We walked in line to the nearest church, St. Kathrin. It was already fourth medieval church we saw in the city. As expected, this church was also beautiful and full of things to see. The service was well constructed: it was held in both German and English, with Finnish and English chaplains assisting.

In Braunschweig we got a slightly tired but warm welcome from a group of German and English students and chaplains. We got a quick tour around ESG and our sleeping place KHG and had dinner with the whole group. After all that we had our first glimpse to Braunschweig as we climbed to the highest church tower in town.

We came back home yesterday. Here was home, waiting for us just as we left it. Somehow being here still feels unreal.

To help me remember the trip I wanted to write a blog about it. There wasn't much time to write a diary during the trip, so most of it is written on our way home, or now after the trip. Hopefully it'll manage to keep some memories alive anyway.

*****

It's been an exciting day. Now I'm finally ready to sleep. Tuomo is already snuffling happily next to me.

The city however doesn't seem to sleep. Our apartment is quite close to Budapest's city center and there's several restaurants right around us. Cars and jolly groups of people make sure we don't get to forget that we're in a bustling city. Then again, there's over 1 700 000 people living in this city. From that perspective it's amazingly quiet in here!