Marburg, Germany (2009)

I was in Marburg for a conference. Not a whole lot to report on the city, though it was a very good conference and I got to hang out with a bunch of German friends who do similar work to the work I do in the Peruvian Andes, but their work is in the Ecuadorian Andes. Also had fun hanging out with Oxford or Oxford-related people—Ken, Alex, Lydia, Sophie, Shonil, Kathy. Marburg did have a Mexican restaurant, though I wouldn’t recommend it. One night we had a bbq by the river well into the night, and there were tons of other people out doing the same.

The most notable feature of Marburg is St. Elizabeth’s church.

St. Elizabeth was a princess who dedicated her life to the sick, giving up all of her riches, but succumbed to death from exhaustion at the age of 24.

The church was originally painted bright red on the inside as was the style of the time.

This organ is bad-ass. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

On the hour the various characters on this clock do funny things.

The Brothers Grimm (Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapnuzel, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel) studied in Marburg, and characters from their stories are scattered throughout the city.

The seven dwarves sneak along behind the castle walls.

View from the castle.

A really terrible pano of the castle.

Okay so weird story: we were chillin’ in the town square when a TV crew came up to us and wanted to style our hair. The show was some famous thing where this famous hair stylist is training an apprentice. Our friend Claudia was an early victim.

For her they braided her hair and put a ribbon in it. Frankly, I had higher expectations.

Yes, yours truly also allowed them to torment my long flowing locks.