Being a Karlsruher

Ahh Karlsruhe. I think I am in love... with a city. Possibly the whole country. Or for that matter, maybe all of Europe. I think I am still a little starstruck at the fact that I am getting to go places I have only dreamed about. I am so blessed by this opportunity. But don't worry America, you are still my favorite.

Since I have only been here three weeks, I have yet to travel beyond Karlsruhe just yet. I know I will soon be going other places, so I am not worried. And anyways, there is just so much to explore within Karlsruhe city limits. Now, I have a gone to a good couple places (as you can see in my photos on Facebook, Picasa Web Albums, and Flickr) and I don't feel the need to go on about them all in this post. Some of them will be highlighted in a new post sometime this week. But I thought I would give you some of the observations I notice daily when I am out and about.

The first of these observations is the weather. Yes, a mundane topic, but it is an important one! Growing up in Southern California has made me, and all my fellow Southern Californians, absolute whimps when it comes to weather. The instant it starts to sprinkle, we throw on our raincoats and rain boots and walk around with umbrellas complaining how terribly cold and wet it is. When it's slightly too hot and humid we moan and groan about how darn hot it is and how terrible it is to sweat and be outside. We like our weather to not be weather at all. Karlsruhe (and all of Germany) in that respect is a Southern Californian's worst nightmare. It actually has weather. Like real rain, real snow, freezing cold temperatures, and it's known for not getting very hot at all. I'm naturally a very warm person, so the idea of being cold is nice. But when it actually happens it's not so nice. Like last Friday night, I froze my butt off (not literally haha) while walking around the city in the fog. With cold comes layers. And with layers comes a very toasty Ashley who has to strip off all her layers every time she enters a room, or she will turn into a pile of sweat. Ew. I don't want to even ponder what Winter is going to do to me. I have such a hate love hate relationship with snow. For now, the weather has been quite lovely though. It has been a proper Fall. Crisp air, mix of brilliant blue skies and cloudy, rainy days; perfect weather to wear cute clothes and an appropriate amount of layers. Today is another blue sky kind of day, I can't wait to get outside and frolick about on my bike.

This is weather from last week, so pretty. 

The second of these observations is the history. The makings of Karlsruhe began way back in 1094 when Gottesaue Monastary (which is now a music college) was created and the settlement of Durlach (which is now a suburb of Karlsruhe) bought a charter. The seat of Margrave of Baden was moved from Pforzheim to Durlach in 1565. Lots of things happened in between that I won't bore you with (wars, politics, etc) and in 1715 Margrave Karl Wilhelm started the building of a stone palace (Karlsruher Schloss) and the foundations of a city not far from Durlach. Once it was finished he transferred his seat from Durlach to Karlsruhe in 1717. Another load of things happened (such as the creation of the modern bicycle and car; no big deal). 1940 saw the end of the historically peaceful relations between Christians and Jews in Karlsruhe. Why? Because 945 Jews were deported to Gurs in the South of France. At the end of WWII in 1945, more than 35% of the city was in ruins. In 1952, the state of Baden and the state of Württemberg were combined into the new state of Baden-Württemberg. This meant that Karlsruhe was no longer a capital city. By 1967 the city has almost completely rebuilt itself from the damages that had WWII caused. And then of course a lot more history has happened since then. But those are the main key points that I wanted you to know because they really have shaped the life of this city.

Me in front of Karlsruher Schloss.

The third observation is of the city layout and the architecture. Karl Wilhelm put the Karlsruher Schloss in the middle of a big circle and city streets are like the spokes of a wheel basically. That's really for the heart of the city though, because Karlsruhe has obviously grown since 1715 and doesn't quite follow the spoke pattern. It's a really neat concept though, and actually it is one of the cities that Washington D.C. was based on. Pretty cool right? The architecture is a strange mix of old and new because of all the damage that was done to the city during WWII. I think it gives the whole city a lot of character. One moment you are looking at buildings that are several hundred years old, and then you are looking at ones that were built less than sixty years ago. The mix of old and new is a beautiful pairing and you see it in most big cities; even if they weren't destroyed by war. I am fond of the layout and architecture because it all reminds me of three cities that I love dearly: New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. It's a weird mixture, I know, but it makes absolute sense to me and only makes me love the city more.

The final observation is of the city sounds. It is rarely ever quiet in a city. The wailing of ambulances and police sirens can be heard for miles. And I must say they are not at all fierce sounding like the ones back at home. Which usually makes me laugh. But I shouldn't laugh at people getting hurt or arrested... yeah, um. Moving on. The church bells are my favorite sound. Constantly ringing on the hour, reminding me what time it is. Which is great because I hardly ever know what time it is these days. The sound of a procession of cars honking, signals that there has been a wedding and you know the bride, groom, and their family and friends are on their way to the reception. Trains can be heard sliding down the tracks usually from any where in the city. I can ever hear one from my bedroom. Bike bells ringing, cars horns honking, pigeons cooing; but the most constant sound you hear is talking. Everywhere I go I hear German. I am so used to it now that I often scare myself when I talk aloud in English because the sound has become foreign to me. The city is alive with sounds. I love to just sit and listen to it all.

I have come to love Karlsruhe. I can't wait to spend a whole year living here. But I also can't wait to get outside her city limits!