Heligoland

It's an island. Yes, it is.  Helgoland in German, Heligoland in English.  It's up in the North Sea.

It belongs to Germany, but it has some roots in the Scandinavian countries, too.  It's very small and only takes a couple of hours to walk around the whole place.  That means it takes longer to get there and back than it does to see it all!

There are some pretty neat things to see - probably the most famous is Long Anna - maybe she should be called LongTall Anna.  It's a stone formation off one end of the island and they seem to forever worry that it won't stand after the next storm.  But it does.  And there are some beaches where you can swim and lots of folks go and camp there in the summer.

Quite frankly, I can't imagine staying there so very long.  I think I would get Island Fever.  If you don't know what that is, look it up!  

Do you think it's worth a trip? 

Paris Sights

Here's something you might see in Paris at the Louvre, but then again you may not!

Click Here

Kraxelmaxel

Huh?  Well, if you live in Bavaria, it's Kraxel, but if you live in Bremen, it's Klettern.  I know Klettern:  it means "to climb."

Remember that picture of Werner swinging from the trees?  There's a Climbing Park like that near Oldenburg where they have all kinds of things strung between trees and you can climb and swing and walk way over the ground.  Kids from age 6 are allowed to do it, so you all qualify.  I suppose even old geezers like us can do it.  

Looks cool to me.   Are you interested??

Strawberry Fields

It seems there's a strawberry lover (or more) in the group.  And wouldn't you know, it'll be strawberry season when you're here!


I know that you can get strawberries almost the whole year there in Florida, but not here in Germany.  We have to wait for Mother Nature to warm things up before we get fresh - and good - strawberries.

These are strawberries we bought at the market yesterday.  They're from south Germany.  And I have to say they tasted really really good on the French toast this morning.


We can Erdbeeren selbst pflucken bei Asendorfs (pick your own strawberries at Asendorf's) (German looks very strange sometimes, doesn't it?).  It's a big farm near here where they grow them and it's not too far to bike. There's a cool store at the farm too where you can buy their own sausages and cheese and butter and such.  Even look at the animals. 

And if we get tired of picking, we can just buy some at the strawberry stand.  Either way they taste really good.

Quiz Time

Questions

1.  What is this?

a. something to play music on
b. a back massager
c. a washing machine
d. a potato scraper












2.  What is this??

a. a washing machine
b. a rocket launcher
c. a mosquito laser
d. a pogo stick







3. What is this???

a. a printing press
b. an iron
c. a sausage maker
d. a pasta machine






READY??


And the answers are:  TA  DA  (music and whistles)

1.  c.  It's a washing machine.  Really.  What fun it was to wash not so very long ago.  You used this to rub the clothes and get the dirt out.

2.   a.  It's a washing machine.  Again?  Yes, really.  This was used to push the clothes and such up and down in the big pot to get the dirt out.

3.   b.  It's an iron.  Are you kidding?  No, I'm not.  People (women, really - don't think the men ever did this work!) put the towels and sheets and cloths through here to press them.  It took at least two people (women) to operate it.  And it was a modern convenience!!!!

There's a museum near here that is an old house and it has all these old things in the house and we think it would be fun to see.  Besides, it is a nice little bike trip from here which means we can take another picnic and go on our bikes.  

OK with you? 

Africa in Germany

Well, that's geographically impossible, isn't it?  Africa is a continent and so is Europe and they do not occupy the same space.  So we can't have Africa in Europe - specifically Germany.

But we can import some of Africa here and have a little impression of Africa here.  And they do!  It's the Serengheti Park Germany.  ( Here is  link to the park and it's written in English, but I think they need my help with the translation. ) 

They have lions and tigers and giraffes and monkeys and  - well, you know - all those African animals!  You take a ride with a bus through the park and then you visit the monkeys and then you have some food (I've heard it 's MUCH better to take your own picnic, and we like doing that anyway!).

Then, hey, there are rides! Great!  You can ride and we can watch.  But if there's a Ferris Wheel, we'll do that.  We like Ferris Wheels.

Looks like a day trip to me!  What do you think?

Leaving Bremen

I know, I know, you haven't even GOT to Bremen yet.  So how can we talk about leaving?  But of course we do have to leave, otherwise the Moms and Dads would be in Paris and we wouldn't.  And you know we have to plan ahead.

We'd considered all the alternatives.  We could drive in the car.  Hummmm.  That's a bit cramped, what with a 10-hour trip.

We could rent a van.  That would give us a lot more room, but it's still a lot of hours of driving.  And what in the world do you do with a car in Paris?  Answer:  Park it.

How about the train?  Well, that's cool.  But it's still a long way.  How do you keep it from being tooooo boring?  You sleep.  You leave at night from Germany and you  sleep in a sleeping car.  It is so wonderful sleeping on a train!  The wheels go ca-thump, ca-thump and it's almost like a lullaby.  And in the morning, you're in Paris.  How cool is that?

The picture on the left is (about) how it looks when the beds are down, and on the right how it looks when you're just sitting around.  


Who gets to sleep on top?????