Well the last 2 weeks have completely flown by. I wanted to get a post up before we headed out again tomorrow for Dresden. (That obviously didn't happen...) This will be our last big trip, well it is only two days, but Chris and I both leave Germany in just 2 weeks! I really cannot believe that 6 months are over already. The time has been wonderful, exciting, and very insightful, but it is time to move on to other adventures! Before I get to philosophical about my time here and what I have learned and what not. Trust me that will be a post for when I am actually gone, I want to tell you all about the last week in Northern Germany.
Museum house in Stade
On Wednesday the 11th Chris and I arrived in Stade for a week long sightseeing tour of Northern Germany. We were really blessed to be able to stay with the family of our friend in Trier, Julia. Her parents live there and she works at her father's company during the semester breaks. We got all settled in on the first day and well... me being me kinda maybe fell down the stairs and well let just say I was lucky not to have broken any bones. It came pretty close with my finger, it still is tender.
Despite my clumsiness the next day we looked around Stade. It was raining, and I don't mean "hey I think we are getting wet" kind of raining, rather "oh my goodness we had better run for cover it is raining too hard for our umbrellas!" After taking shelter for about 20 mins or so the rain let up enough for us to walk around, and so we did! Stade is a little town, but I liked it. We went to the "highest" point, yep um I really wouldn't have even called it a high point, I barely even noticed we were walking "up hill".
our ferry to Hamburg
having fun our the boat tour
The next day we drove to one part of the Elbe River and took a ferry across the harbor to the city of Hamburg. We started walking around and went to St. Micheal's. Then I started to get sick. Joys right. Chris said it was only fair that it was my turn. I toughed it up and we went to the top of the tower to see the city. Then we went to the Einkaufstraße, which is basically the shopping center of town, aka mall and giant strip mall. Once I got some food in me things were better and we were able to explore a little more without me feeling too sick. I think my blood sugar was low and I was dehydrated, not a good combination. We saw a few other sights and then we went on a boat ride around the harbor.
one of three organs in St. Micheal's
Speicherstadt
The tour guide was funny, but he spoke in Hamburgerish so there was a few things we didn't understand. Luckily Julia was able to translate into high German. After the boat ride we walked around the Speicherstadt, which is a part of Hamburg where the rug dealers were a long time ago. Now it is mostly warehouses. The Hamburger Dungeon is there and so is the world's larges model train. It was too late to go see them, but we still had a wonderful day and were able to see the city. One of the last things we saw before we took the ferry back to Julia's car, was the Elbtunnel. It is a tunnel under the Elbe river, and instead of having the cars drive forever on a ramp they have an elevator. Yes for cars! We were able to ride back up to the surface with some cars.
Welt der Sinne
That night we played memory with pictures of famous places in Germany. It was really funny because the next day we saw pictures from the game in real life. We saw a German Shepard and a classic house from the "Altesland" or translated "the old country". They were in a little town called Bremervörde. It isn't a town that is usually on a tourists must see list, but it is the birthplace of Chris's family.
Haus am See
It was at the very least where his family emigrated from. There we played in a park called "Der Welt der Sinne" which is basically a senses themed playground. So there was hole to stick your head in and hmm and hear how the sound was amplified. A pendulum type swing. A walking path, that you were supposed to do barefoot to feel the different sensations, a rock maze and other things of that nature. There is also a big lake that we walked around. It was a shorter day for tourism but still good. That night we grilled, it was finally not stormy and we played a board game, that is supposed to last 45 minutes and well we played for about 4 hours I think.
border marker in Schnackenburg
typical architecture in Lüneburg
The next day made up for the light Saturday. We, all of us Julia's parent and us "kids" went to a little tiny town called Schnackenburg. The spelling is a little different from Chris's last name, but close enough that it was a must see. Chris was like a 2 year old in a candy shop with mom's credit card the whole time we were there and on the way. The town is small, but very nice. After we walked around a bit and ate lunch at I think the only restaurant in town we went to Lüneburg. Julia's mom wanted to show us the unique achritecture there and outside the city are fields of Heide. The German name for Heather. I was really excited to see the flower I was named for for the first time. :) Heide doesn't bloom until late summer early fall, and so there wasn't a lot to see, but there were a few blossoms! I was really excited.
Heide/Heather
Wattland
By this time in the week the weather was finally starting to work in our favor, and so we planed to go to the ocean! The area of coast we went to is really special. The land is super flat and so when the tide goes out, it goes out for a long time, taking all the water with it. They call it Wattland. I have no idea what it would be called in English. Basically what happens is the water line recedes for a ways and you can walk on the ocean floor!
Strandkorb, seats for the beach
From this section of coastwe could walk to an island. When the water comes back, about 6 hours later, you can take a boat back to shore. The only down side is that the water never gets deep, only about waist high. It does make it better for families with children, because the water is calm and shallow. It was a really fun day laying in the sun on the beach and playing a bit in the water.
Bremen Musikanen
put money in this and you will hear one of the Bremen musicians
The next day we decided to head down to Bremen. We didn't do a lot of planing, we just decided to wing it so to speak. We found a train into town, knew which direction to walk to find some sights, a very simple map with the highlights marked and a few return train times. That was it. It was a fun day. We didn't really get lost, but once we found tourist information and got a better map things went a little smoother. We saw all the sights and made it home in time for dinner.
We said our good byes the next day and headed for home. It was a wonderful week! There is a lot of film, I think over 2 hours, so it will take me a while to get through it all but I will be working on it your you all.
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