Köln - Cologne Odyesseum

Field Trip!

Several weeks ago, a friend of mine asked if we would be interested in going to Cologne (Köln) with her during the beginning of Spring Break. Cologne is only about 2 hours away by train and has a new attraction to add to it's list of "must dos".

She had been wanting to visit the Odysseum.  It is an interactive science museum filled with fun.

The first area focused on Life and Earth sciences. Here, my younger son and his friends are experiencing the creation of fossil footprints.

So, of course the next thing we would see would be an animatronic dinosaur.

Inside the tree was a computer screen teaching you about genetics. Luckily, it had German and English options, since I am pretty sure none of our family have learned these words yet.

On our way to the next section of the Odysseum we went past this art installation.

The next area we went to was focused on outer space. This had lots information about states of matter, engines and even a computer games that simulated flying a plane. The real show stopper  was the gyroscope chair. Astronaut in training!

The next area focused on robotics. This would have been way cooler of the remote control boxing robots were not out of batteries. However this game, shown below, worked by relaxing your mind. Whoever had the most relaxed mind was able to roll the ball away from themselves and toward to loser.

This robot could simulate emotional facial expressions - with the help of the viewer pressing a button with the expression of choice. I think this one was surprise.

After a snack and playground break, it was off to our last area ambiguously labeled Kinderstadt or  Kid City in English. It was full of fun activities of the scientific persuasion.

This activity focused on selecting the correct levers to color sort the balls.

What kid doesn't love playing with giant gears?

This was one of my son's favorites - solar powered motion.

This ball "levitated" in the air by magic (a fan blowing air).

Paton's head was cut off. Really!

Completing the circuit.

Fun with gravity.

Reflex test - how quickly can you grab the poles after they start falling?

This had something to do with tension - mostly, I just think it looks cool.

The highlight of this area was way up over our heads - the rope course.

My kids just wanted to play and were not patient enough to wait in the long line for a turn on the ropes.   For a nine year old, our friend has more patience than most adults I know.

Except for out train having a technical difficulty on the way home, our day was lovely. The sun was shining, we were with friends and we saw a little of Cologne.

I am hoping we can go back again soon for another visit. The cathedral is supposed to be incredibly beautiful and there are a million other things so see.

Hamburg or Bust!

Out of Control!

Spring break has arrived!

Two weeks off of school for Spring Break is a long time, so we are trying to squeeze in a few trips since our time in Germany is starting to draw down.

Our first stop was Ronnenberg to visit the Kellersmann family again. They are so good to us. Our trip wasn't as long as we would have liked because someone (Russell) had to teach a class. Oh well.

Our friends wanted to take us to Hamburg for the next day, so we all hopped on the train and off we went.

The train ticket we had, a Niedersachen ticket allows you to ride any local train (which means not the fast ICEs). Luckily, that ticket also included water taxis. Once we arrived in Hamburg, we hopped onto a water taxi and had a tour of  the Elbe through Hamburg.

I took a picture of this building before I even read the text painted on the house.  It says "Out of Control". I love the mixture of styles and colors on this row of building!

I also saw these two amazingl doors. 

This one made me a little home sick. Mermaids are the symbol of Norfolk. If you look closely, you can see the mermaid enticing the sailor.

We took a short walking tour of the city and saw the Rathaus. A Rathaus is basically city hall. Hamburg's Rathaus is open to the public and holds concerts and exhibitions. It is not a museum, but the building itself is pretty historical so there are tours through it.

Our next stop was an Italian restaurant where we ordered, then waited and waited for our food. Then waited some more. Sadly, bad service seems to be exactly the same here as it is in the U.S. I am convinced the waitress forgot to put in our order!

Luckily our children were very well behaved and waited patiently.

Our final destination of the day was the Miniatur Wunderland.  Just in case you have no idea what that is, imagine an entire building filled with model train layouts. I am not talking about your strange neighbor's train set that circles the basement. This was truly amazing. You can walk through a good portion of the world in HO scale. The lights were set on a timed dimmer to give you the night time perspective every few minutes.

There were so many amazing displays that is was hard to pick a few out to share.

Can you see the Ferris Wheel in the picture above?

This palace reminds me very much of King Ludvig's Chimsee palace in Bavaria. This is the same king who constructed Neuschwanstein (Cinderella's Castle) .

This exhibit (below) was one of the most popular. There are doors on the wall that let the model airplane through on it's "take-off", complete with jet noise sound effects.

There was even a post war exhibit - "Never forget" is pretty important here.

The exhibits included city and attractions from around the world. It was interesting to see what someone from another country would pick as a representation for other lands. Here is a desert scene from the US. I think it is supposed to be a part of Utah.

Here is a depiction of Las Vegas. The details were pretty impressive. This portion was complete even with the column of light beaming out of the Luxor.

Here is a scene from Scandinavia. The water in this section was no simulation!

One of the last sections we saw this beautiful replica of a church in Scandinavia.

The last section was a winter wonderland, complete with sign warning you that the snow is actually small pieces of glass that can cut you!

No matter what age you are, if you ever have a chance to visit Hamburg, the Miniatur Wunderland is definitely worth a visit if you have time.

One day is really not enough time to really see Hamburg. There is so much to see there that I really hope we can visit again to experience more of the city.

Easter In Germany

 Frohe Ostern!

The Easter Bunny seemed to find us all the way in Münster  - not that we were actually worried.  He brought some yummy chocolate in many forms, including lollypop form, and even hid 8 Überraschungseier for the boys to find.

Easter Morning was beautiful. The breeze was a little cool, but the sun was shining again. We previously heard from someone that the Labmerti Cathedral had a beautiful Easter procession and mass, so we decided to bike into the old Stadt.  St. Lamberti Dom, founded in 1090 A.D., is one of the oldest churches in Münster. Sadly, the building is having some major renovations done at the moment, so it was closed for all religious services.

 About half a block away is the Überwasser Kirche. Since the Dom is under renovations, this is where the masses are being held at the moment, unless of course, you want to go to one of the countless other churches around here.

Many of the churches here have beautiful stained glass windows. Many are replicas of the originals since World War II destroyed most of the originals.

The first hour was was full of music. The congregation sang, a boys choir sang and the organ was lovely. The boys waited about 30 minutes before they asked to break out the iPods.

The second hour was the actual mass. Since it was Easter Sunday, there was a special mass led by the local Bishop.  A rather grand procession was led by alter boys and girls swinging incense burners, followed by various robed people. The Bishop came at the end blessing the congregation as he went.

At a later point, the Bishop blessed the congregation again sprinkling us with holy water (which was only shocking if the water hit you before you saw it coming because you couldn't see over the tall person in front of you).

By the end of the service the cathedral was filled with a cloud of incense and a lovely feeling. I love the part of mass where you greet you neighbor. We were sitting by a couple of sweet older nuns who didn't bat an eye at sitting next to our two boys.

Easter evening our wonderful friends, the Kellersmann family, invited us to partake in another Germans tradition; The Easter Bonfire, or Osterfeuer.

As per tradition, the Christmas tree was added to the bonfire helping the initial flames really get going.

Sadly, the beautiful pyramid collapsed after a while.

None the less, we were all able to roast our wursts and enjoy a lovely meal (on a separate grill because it was impossibly hot at the fire). We brought a little touch of American cuisine with us in the form of S'mores fixings. I think they were a hit because everyone ate at least one.

Even though we are away from our family and friends back in the states, we have been lucky enough to be included by others here in Germany. With out our friends here we would be lonely indeed.  We are grateful for all of our friends, where ever they are!

Essen und Blumen - Food and Flowers

First...

My husband and I made the trip out to Markt Kauf, one of the bigger grocery stores again. Walking around, we continually stumbled into things that are out of the ordinary for us.

In Germany, many bottles (plastic and glass) require a bottle deposit. Every grocery store has a bottle return center. If you look carefully, you can see the woman with a cart full of mineral water and beer. Later, she will bring each of those bottles back, loaded up in another cart.

Here is someone waiting to return his bottles!

Drinking tap water (Leitungswasser) is not common at all even though the tap water is perfectly clean.  If you ever ask for water at a restaurant or anywhere, you will get sparkling mineral water unless you specify that you want Leitungswasser.

As we were browsing the grocery department, we came across the alcohol isles. The drinks here are noticeably marketed to a younger crowd (and very cheap). Many are decorated with cartoonish characters and bright colors and catchy names. 

There was half of an isle dedicated just to whisky. I had no idea that it could be so expensive. One whisky option offered here contained smaller bottles , each containing 15, 18 and 25 year old varieties for a whopping price of 37.99 Euros. A full sized bottle of aged (18 years old) whiskey ran around 50 Euros. I have no idea what that would cost in the states.

Interestingly, the non-alcoholic drinks were mixed right in with the grown-up drinks.

This Hannah Montana drink was right below the margarita shelf.

Another interesting thing we noticed is how inexpensive alcoholic drinks are here. There are two versions on Moet on this shelf. One costs 35.99 Euros and the other costs 39.99 Euros. That is less than the U.S., right?

 I noticed these sausages on a previous visit and wondered if they were perhaps a vegetarian friendly sausage. I was in the dairy area so I knew they were not meat. On closer inspection I saw that they are tubes of soup!

Once again I have found "American" hamburgers and hot dogs, complete with buns!

Here is a sausage with a curry sauce - If you are ever in Germany, you MUST try this. The brand is Dinner for One, made popular by the Skit these Germans love to watch around New Year's Eve.

And Next...

As mentioned earlier, Markt Kauf is huge. We walked over to the garden center area and couldn't resist some herbs. Spring is finally making its way to Münster so we decided to liven up our apartment  with some new planter boxes.

I picked out the lovely herb pack, but as soon as we were home, My sweet husband took over the planting responsibilities. We planted petunias in-between the herbs. Later, hopefully, the petunias will drape over the edge and look lovely off the balcony.

Ok, I couldn't resist helping a little. The herbs were pretty root bound, so after I pulled them out of their pots, I loosened up the roots by pulling them apart a bit.

The roots will be much happier and healthier now. 

Isn't that pretty?

We will keep them inside for a few weeks, until the plants are over their transplant shock and we are free of frosty mornings.

This Sunday is Easter. One of the Catholic churches here is supposed to have an extraordinarily beautiful service that we are going to try to see. Later that day we are hoping to visit friends just outside of town. Hopefully we will be able to ride our bikes, unless it SNOWS!