I have mentioned before that the city I am living in is very close to the German border. The closest German town of substantial size is Kleve. It takes about 30-45 minutes by bus to get there and it’s actually possible to ride your bike there (something I hope to do before I leave).
Last weekend a few friends and I decided to go to Kleve because everything is cheaper in Germany. When we were on the bus, we didn’t even know at what point we had crossed into Germany because there wasn’t a big “Welcome to Germany” sign like they normally have when you drive from one state to another and most German and Dutch words seem the same to us. When we finally arrived at Kleve, we noticed something that let us know we were no longer in the Netherlands – there were bike racks with plenty of spots available to park your bike.
Kleve was also much hillier than Nijmegen. It reminded me more of San Francisco as most of the streets were pretty steep.
When we were walking around, we started noticing a lot of swans in the streets. For example, all of the public benches in Kleve are swans, all painted differently. They reminded me of the ostriches in Downtown Chandler or the streetcars in New Orleans. It turns out, this is probably because the big castle in Kleve is the Schwanenburg which in English means “Swan Castle.” This is where the dukes of Cleves lived and I am assuming this is the reason for all the swans around town.
A depiction of a famous play (Lohengrin) in the city center – also involving a swan.
While we were in Germany, we allowed our stomachs to control where we went, so we spent most of the day inside with delicious pastries – none of which I photographed, sorry guys. However, if you go to Germany, eat nothing but pastries for a day, you won’t regret it.
We also went to the Schwanenburg castle and looked around the outside a bit, however, it is not tourist season here, so the castle was not open to the public. The Schwanenburg castle was also the home of Anne of Cleves who was the fourth (and very brief) wife of King Henry VIII of England, Kleve’s own celebrity. The outside of this castle was very beautiful and I am excited to go back when we can tour it.
The Schwanenburg
One thing I have learned about European cities is that they all have a city center. The city center has the majority of the shops and important landmarks and the area surrounding it is typically residential. One easy fail-proof way to spot the city center – the church steeples.
A World War II memorial statue on the church grounds.
It was fun to go to Germany for a day and explore this little town. I’m sure I’ll be going back a few more times during my stay here, if for nothing else, to grocery shop. 
Carrying back the groceries from Germany.
