Storks

People in Germany love storks.  First, they're really pretty to see flying.  Second, they are good luck.  And third, when you see the storks, it means spring is coming and winter is going - always a welcome event here in the cold north.

Storks are graceful but since they're so big, they can't make tight turns - it takes a while to prepare for landing. Sadly, they get injured sometimes because of these long approaches and sometimes run into power lines and such. Not far away there's a refuge for injured storks - the Storchenstation.
Here's the map. From our house it's about 14 kilometers.

There are storks everywhere there - in the trees, on top of the house and on the ground. Besides the storks there are a few other animals wandering around as well.

 

We can pack a picnic, visit the storks and then head to the beach at the river. Sounds like a day trip to me!

Windmills

Werner and I simply cannot remember if we've visited a windmill with you. That must mean that we haven't. Mills are important to Bremen - that's exactly where the story of the Bremen Town Musicians starts.  So we have to do that.

There are a couple of windmills in Bremen, but they just stand there and don't do anything even though they are really beautiful. This one downtown is a restaurant; another is a museum.  Nothing wrong with restaurants or museums, but wouldn't it be nice to see one that really works?

We can do that!
 
Worpswede.  Funny name, huh?  You can say it this way:  Vorpsvaeda.  We can get there by boat and take our bikes on the boat.  


Coming up to Worpswede, it looks like this. See the windmill? It's really small, about one-third of the way across the horizon.   Do you see it?

Here it is up close.  The mill doesn't regularly grind the wheat into flour - they only do it on special days.  But it works.  The sails go faster than you can think and it makes a lot of noise since all the gears and such are made of wood.   See the windows?  They're regular windows, so you can guess how big the "sails" are!  Not small.  

The fence is to keep people away from the sails when they're moving, but it looks like a nice porch.  But only when the sails are still.

A Room with a View

You know your bedroom looks out over and across the street, right?  So, the big house was sold this year and now the new owners are fixing it up.  It seriously needed fixing up.

It's been interesting watching what's going on, ESPECIALLY the roofers.  These guys are crazy if you ask me and it's amazing how they just walk around up there like they're on the ground!

I don't really think you'll be seeing this in June.  Surely the roof will be finished by then!

First Post, First Post !!

And it's all about football, this post.  You know, the ball you kick with your feet.  Oh, yeah, you guys call it soccer.  But here, it's FOOTBALL.

The World Cup is this summer, and it's bigger than the Super Bowl and the World Series put together.  Bajillions of people go crazy about these games.  And even before you guys get here to our Germany, the World Cup matches will have started - the round robin matches.  Everybody plays everybody in their group. 

Here's the match-up for Germany.

And here's the match-up for the US of A.

This is so great!  What this means is that after we get here to Bremen, we can watch the last round robin US game and the last round robin German game. When the Germans win, lots of folks jump in their cars and drive around honking their horns. It's really lots of fun. 

Tell me your favorite US players!  We will probably have two Werder Bremen players on the team.  Yeah!

If Germany wins their group, then the games will be shown on big outdoor screens and there will be bratwurst and fish frikadelle and lots of fun.  I hope Germany wins so we can party and watch the game.  And I hope the USA wins, too. 

Here We Go - Again

It's a new year and a new chronicle of Adventures in Europe with MeeMaw and Werner, version 2010.  We'll post some things before the visit begins since after all anticipation is half the fun.