Why did we choose Bavaria? I travelled there on a student exchange when I was 15 and thought it was such an amazing place. Since then, I’ve married my husband, Scott, and I wanted to show him one of my favourite places in the world.
As it turns out Scott does too!
Bavaria is a state in south-east Germany, with a great mix of museums, medieval villages, astonishing castles and vibrant cities, so we wanted to see more.
We hired a car to go exploring, which was brilliant. We went for strolls through the snow, admiring the amazing architecture, browsing shops and sampling German food. The people were so friendly and welcoming, we had no trouble getting around in our hired car and on public transport.
Munich is the largest city and capital of the state. It is the gateway to the Alps, and one of the most beautiful cities in the country.
This festival is Germany’s and the world’s largest beer fair, with almost six million people attending it every year.
Later we took a trip to see the 950-year-old city of Nuremberg and visited the Imperial Castle, the home of Germany’s past kings. Wandering through the romantic Old Town, we took photos of the extraordinary castle, enjoyed the breathtaking views and admired the region’s original timber-framed buildings. We were there during the festive holidays.
It was like a fairy tale, exploring the stalls and eating warm pretzels in the snow under the glistening lights.
We ate a range of hearty Bavarian food.
Scott also really enjoyed Weisswurst, a white sausage you eat with sweet mustard. I tried a dessert dumpling filled with spicy plum jam called Germknödel. It is steamed and served hot with melted butter or vanilla sauce.
Bavaria has a romantic atmosphere.
We loved staying in luxurious hotels, visiting castles, enjoying views of the mountains and eating delicious food.,
,(A)At that time the Old Town becomes a winter wonderland and holds a magical Christmas market.,
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,(B)Unfortunately, we could not find a parking place there.,
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,(C)I adore the Bavarian scenery and food.,
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,(D)This romance made it fantastic to get lost in the beauties of its cities with my husband.,
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,(E)By the way the Bavarians love their sausages!,
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,(F)My husband decided to buy one.,
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,(G)And you must enjoy having a delicious warm pretzel in the snow!,
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,(H)This decision led us to spend a whole week in Bavaria.,
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,(I)With the sausages, it was the best meal we had there.,
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,(J)It is also home to the famous annual Oktoberfest event.,
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Part 2: Switzerland’s Gotthard Base Train Tunnel (6 points)
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,,(a)If you stand in what will be the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world – the new Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Swiss Alps – you feel a current of air on your cheek and a noise in your ears. Look down the dark hole into the distant future, and, for a moment, you think a train is coming. But the thought does not last long; after all, with trains scheduled to rocket through at 240 km/h, how could it?,
,,(b)In fact, you won’t be able to catch a train through the tunnel for another three-and-ahalf years. “That sound is the air conditioning,” my guide said. “Swiss labour law says that the temperature must not exceed 28 degrees. Without the air conditioning, it would be as hot as 45 degrees down here.”,
,,(c)Once work on the 56-kilometre tunnel is complete, you will be able to speed in airconditioned comfort from Zürich to Milan in just 2 hours 50 minutes – a saving of 50 minutes on the current travel time. Along the way, you can enjoy the novelty of travelling 2,400 vertical metres below the surface of the earth – at double motorway speed limits.,
,,(d)For now you can join a group tour of the tunnels. These are organised by the visitor centres, where you can see a model of the machine that did most of the work: a mechanical mole nearly 460 metres long, weighing more than 300 tons, and using as much electricity as 4,000 family homes. In good conditions, it chewed through more than 38 metres of rock a day.,
,,(e)The tunnelling machines finished their work in March 2011, but engineers still have to complete installation of the track, power supply, and telecommunications equipment. The first trains are expected to thunder through towards the end of 2016 – 20 years after engineers dug the first shafts, and a year ahead of schedule.,
Part 3: The Inuit People (7 points)
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,1.Anthropologist Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934 in London, England. Her father was a businessman and her mother an author. Growing up, Jane loved animals. She dreamt of someday going to Africa in order to see some of her favourite animals in the wild. She particularly liked chimpanzees. One of her favourite toys as a child was a toy chimpanzee, which she loved to play with.
Jane spent her late teens and early twenties saving money to go to Africa. She worked in various jobs, including as a secretary and a waitress. When she was 23, Jane finally had enough money to visit a friend who lived on a farm in Kenya.
Jane fell in love with Africa and decided to stay. She met British archaeologist Louis Leakey, who offered her a job studying chimpanzees. Jane was so excited. She moved to the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania and began to observe the chimpanzees.
When Jane began studying chimpanzees in 1960 she had no academic training or education. This may have actually helped her as she had her own unique way of observing and recording the chimpanzees’ actions and behaviour. Jane spent the next forty years of her life studying chimpanzees. She discovered many new and interesting things about the animals.
When Goodall first began studying chimpanzees she gave each chimp she observed a name. The standard scientific way of studying animals at the time was to assign each animal a number, but Jane was different. She gave the chimps unique names that reflected their appearance or personality. For example, she named the chimpanzee which first approached her David Greybeard because he had a grey chin. Other names included Gigi, Mr. McGregor, Goliath, Flo, and Frodo.,