Last blog from Germany

Thursday was a bank holiday "Christi Himmelfahrt" (Ascension Day) which traditionally is also Father's Day when a lot of men (fathers or not) go in groups for a long walk pulling carts with beer and picnic on it (more beer then picnic).
Most shops are closed so my niece Maren was off too and picked me up from mother at 2pm. We found an open bakery, got some rolls (Broetchen!) with cheese and headed for "die Halde".
              http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halde_Hoheward
The above link is in German but it shows some nice pictures. Even better if you google 'Halde Herten'.

This is the grounds of an old coal mine and a hill made with mining material (stones) from several mines. Dirt on top of it and grass and plantings and other things (described later). I should say here that this part of Germany is really all flatland, very flat.
We climbed steps and went zick-zack ways (easier) on the way to the 'Horizon observation' thing.

 Maren likes to take photos.

The top of the hill with the 'Horizontobservatorium'. Unfortunately it is surrounded with a tall fence since it was almost finished. It was never opened for use because of building mistakes which are still being debated by the politicians.
The lady in the front posing is my gorgeous niece Maren. We like to have fun.

We had a wonderful clear day and could see far. Maren pointed out lots of buildings like the church where her workplace is on the other side of the street.

A little left of the middle on the horizon are two water-towers. Ute lives very close by there.

The horizon observation thing gives off eerie 'music' when the wind is blowing. We tried to take a video with the sound but the success is questionable. You can hear mostly the wind on the mic.










The other side of the hill. You can see the white dome of the Chalke 04 stadium, an important German Fussballverein (soccer team). Some of the World Cup 2006 games were played there.

On the next hill is the ' Sonnenuhr mit Obelisk', a sundial.

Did I mention that Maren likes to take photos? 

This was so neat but none of the photos really turned out. My camera is probably not the right one for it.

The hill on the other side is still being built. Looks like a moon scape.











I did mention that Maren likes to take photos, haha. It's because she is a professional photographer. Don't know why she thinks her Auntie would make a good model.

 But we forgot to take a photo of the steps called 'Himmelsstiege' (stairs to heaven). This is only a small part of it (picture taken last August when we attempted a walk then but it rained so hard that we had to turn around).

New: the viewing plateau has locks attached to it. Some new thing people like to do for commemorating purposes, supposedly it started in France. Carving initials into trees is really "not environmentally friendly".

Close-up.












When we got back to mother she was wide awake and alert. Carsten was visiting with Sonja and baby Julian. It is just so amazing how mother suddenly finds new life. It lasted only for a little while after they left but babies do magic to her.

Friday's weather was glorious for Germany.The goal is to be at mother's everyday short after 10. Don't want to get in the way of the caretakers.

Smoked eel fillets and smoked herring fillet (or bueckling?).

So I went to the weekly market very early in the morning. One of the stands was from Holland with fresh and smoked fish. Had to buy some for supper. What a feast that will be.

I also was supposed to bring eggs. I knew which stand my sister buys those from but she didn't tell me that there are so many kinds to choose from. I thought may be the stand lady knows my sister but the name was not familiar to her. She asked whether I had a picture. I had my camera so I searched, almost gave up but then found one. Oh, yes, she knew exactly which eggs my sister always buys. I think this is so great.

It is Sunday and I have to say good-bye to my mother. On Monday I am flying back home. A very hard thing to do. But it is o.k. She seems comfortable and not in pain. And since she really didn't know who I was most of the time, she will not miss me. It's going to be o.k.