Today we had the amazing opportunity to have a day across the border in the German city of Münster. We had a quick walking tour with our guide Enno, and then had ample time to explore the city. We toured some other historical buildings and got some schnitzel and gelato before heading on a three hour bus ride to our final city of Rotterdam.

Münster has incredible history with both Central Europe’s medieval times and in the Second World War. My favorite part was seeing the churches around the city that were hundreds of years old. We also saw the building where the Peace of Westphalia was signed, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, a very important war in the Middle Ages.

Something I took away from the city was the urban planning. I especially like how the city center was very condensed and walkable while being enclosed by both major roads and a “green belt”. Another bit of historical sustainability was when they were rebuilding the city from the bombing in World War Two, construction used materials from the destroyed buildings and from local quarries. This kind of reuse was an early form of shortening travel distances for raw materials.