More photos of Germany.

Düsseldorf Rheinturm

170m metres up looking out over Düsseldorf! I didn´t realise it was this big!!!

Düsseldorf again

Düsseldorf and the Rhein river flowing through the middle.

I thought the roof of this building was pretty impressive.

Me and Düsseldorf

Perphaps Dads boat is sitting in the Rhein below the Rheinturm. haha

Even the entrance to the train station is pretty.

In the Cologne Catherdral there is the largest working bell in the world! It is huge!

The beautiful Cologne from the top of the Catherdral.

More of the beautiful Cologne

Gorgeous view of Cologne from the top of the Catherdral.

Pigeons chilling at the Cologne Catherdral

Beautiful artwork on the ground outside the Catherdral.

The lastest addition to the Cologne Catherdral. It was added 5 years ago and each square is 9.6cm by 9.6cm and every piece is mouth blown glass. It covers over 106 square metres and there are over 1100 squares. :)

Lindt Chocolate Museum

PETE! I found some pasta you would like!!

Cologne

Me and the city of Cologne in the background.

Roermond in the Netherlands. Loved the building in this town. It was very pretty.

Everywhere you go there is a gorgeous old church. :)

Christmas!!!!!!!!! with photos

Just for Pete. :) A picture of the inside of the house.

My presents

This is the 3D decoration

The owl necklace to match my earrings

Apple cake

My kiwi hanging proudly at the top of the christmas tree

Today was what we in NZ would call boxing day. However, christmas here goes for almos three days. Celebrations begin on Christmas eve and continue until the end of boxing day.

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass at 6pm. We had to go there 40 minutes early though so that we could get a good seat. We were still ¾ of the way down the church and I couls barely see a thing. It was a beautiful Mass though. The choir was AMAZING. And the church itself is so beautiful.

Once Mass was finished it was time for dinner. Wow! What a fantasic meal. Wiesia had spent the whole day cooking and cleaning prepaing both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. First we had a brocoli soup and then salmon baked with cream and spinach and then for dessert ice cream and chocolate. It was a brilliant meal. J

Then it was time for presents….. I know presents on Christmas eve how bizarre. But yes we then gave presents. They loved the New Zealand book. We spent about an hour going through it. Vanessa got concert tickets and a new perfume. Wiesia also got perfume and Helmut got tickets to a comedian. Then there was me. I was stunned! There were about 10 presents sitting infront of me with my name on them. I couldnt believe it! My family are so nice and generous. I could not ask for a better family. J I got a bracelet from the Cologne Catherdral shop. That was sneaky because I thought they were only buying the DVD. Then there was a very cute key ring with an angel on it. Milka chocolate. YUM. A owl keylace to match my owl earrings. Haha. Very pretty. A wooden stable from a Christmas market that you can hang on the wall or use as a christmas decoration. A Christina Aguilera mini perfume and shower gel. A gorgeous little pink fleece/wool(not too sure which) angel. Yes one of the ones from the previous pictures of the christmas markets. Another wooden decoration but for the christmas tree. It is so pretty. It is 3D and wow so so beautiful. Then there is another decoration that lights up. It is an angel again for the christmas tree. Like the one shown in the pictures. Oh and some cards with christmas decorations and then out fell €100 and Wiesia said For you to spend in Berlin! I was so so surprised and very grateful.

Once presents were over we played a game and then all of a sudden it was 12.40 and well in truely time to go to bed.

The next day was the 25th. The morning was reasonably normal. Breakfast, getting ready etc etc. Then the family from Cologne arrived for afternoon tea and dinner. They were all really lovely. The table setting was beautiful for afternoon tea. Then we had another spendid dinner. For a starter we had Macaroon soup then noodles and gulasch as a main and then a ice cream cake with alcohol cream, bosenberry sauce and peaches. Yum yum yum. It was truely delicious. What was really funny was the little boy Mats. He is 3. He went upstairs for a nap and when he came back down he had Checky my little soft toy I decided to bring with me as a little bit of home. He played with him all night and then came and gave Checky back to me before he left. It was very cute. J

Today all of the shops in Germany were closed as it is still Christmas but in the Netherlands all the shops were open. So after a fantastic breaskfast (which I was told not to take a photo of because it is completely normal…..) we went shopping in the Netherlands. J As you do. :P We went to a designer outlet centre. It is a bit like a mall but it isnt all one building. It took us 15minutes to drive there and then 30minutes to find a park. I am not joking. There were over 3000 car parks and still we couldnt find a park. :O Crazy. Now when I say designer I mean Nike, Gucci, Prada, Hugo boss, Marc O´Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, Puma,  Armani, Billabong, Dolice and Gabbana, Guess, Burberry and many many more. Wow it was all so expensive. Even though it was an outlet centre and even though it was boxing day sale time! I picked up one bag worth €450 reduced twice!!!!!!!!!!! I also fell in love with a bag in a shop called Fossil. WOW! But it was €115 so I only just managed to convince myself that it wasnt worth it. Maybe if I have money at the end J. If you want to google it, it is called Roermond, Designer outlet. Very cool.

The random photo of the lounge is for Pete. This is what there house looks like inside. They are very proud of their newlounge.

That is all for now. I will update you all again soon. J

Christmas day

Apologies i haven't had time to put any photos of Christmas yesterday up but i am taking more today and i will try to load them on tomorrow.

Baking:-)

Today we did some baking for Christmas:-) there is a base that's like a biscuit then a layer of marizpan and then melted milk chocolate painted over one half. :-) We also made Honigkuchen but i don't have a photo of that one at the moment. :-)

Homesick

So being on the other side of the world at Christmas time is hard. Got quite homesick yesterday. It was the first time I have really wanted to be at home. But I am OK now. :)
I am having a quite day at home before going to a friends birthday party tonight. It is really nice to spend some time relaxing as I have been so busy while I have been here.
Tomorrow I am going to do some Christmas baking :) German baking of course. I am looking forward to it. :) It will be fun.
I hope you are all enjoying the warm summer weather in NZ!

Pictures :)

These pictures are of Essen at the Christmas Market and the Cologne Catherdral :)
Only a few because it takes a long time to load them. :)

Essen and Cologne

So on the weekend I went to both Essen and Cologne. They are both quite big cities and are both amazing.
On Saturday we went to Essen. There was an awesome Christmas Market there. It was so cool. There were so so many different things from candles and soaps to bird feeders and hand knitted clothes and of course lots of meat. :) I also got to try Glühwein. Hhhhmmm not my favourite thing but not terrible either. The most amazing thing about it though was the lights. The lights were so so pretty. There were so many and they were literally everywhere. It made the whole place seem magical and dream like. I loved every minute of it. :) I also got to go on a big (like super duper big) ferris wheel. So cool!!!!!! Awesome pictures of the lights and of the city. Of course the ferris wheel had lights too and they moved in patterns and changed colour and WOW! How cool!

Then on Sunday we went to Cologne and visited the Catherdral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Google Cologne Catherdral. I could not believe I was standing infront of such a huge beautiful building! WOW! I still cannot believe it. It was incredible! The most amazing thing I have ever seen! The whole building was so detailed. It had hundreds of patterns and statues carved into the walls and arches and that´s just on the outside. And you must also remember that it is all hand made. No machines at all. Then inside..... The ceiling was so high and the roof with its great big arches and the statues and ........ the stained glass windows. They are so so so so so so so so so so so big! Wow wow wow. They are the most beautiful colours and perfect designs. They are simply magnificiant. What an awesome place to go and an awesome site to see.

Sorry trouble with the pictures again. Will try to put some up soon.:)

Love Penny

School

School is soooooooo different. So in New Zealand classrooms have bright posters on the walls. Bits on the childrens best work, positive messages, other stuff. There is always a big white board on one wall and probably a projector screen and at least one computer if not more. And of course there are many resources around the room. Eg books or games or the teachers books.
In Germany there is a blackboard up the front with only desks and chairs put messily around the room. Some rooms have an ohp and there is nothing! Nothing! On the walls. And the room is so bare.

Obenhausse. :-)

Sadly my phone ran out of battery so no photos sorry. But Google Obenhausse!!!! Omg!!!! Like the malls in Christchurch but 10x better and bigger! It is crazy big!!!

I may or may not have spent €200..... So worth it though. :-) new coat, scarf, shoes, a cardi, a top and .... Oh jeans. :-)

I didn't get any photos on of the Obenhausse but i did take one photo afterwards. :-)

Light switches:-)

So as you can see the light switches are huge!!!!!!! Haha. I found it fascinating:-)

Update on me. I am amazed at how much I can understand. Well when they are talking to me i can. When the speak to each other it us all a blur. I have started a weird journal. It is helping heaps. I am beginning to say better sentences. The family is great though. I am constantly asking Was ist dass? What is this? We were playing a children's board game and they were quizing me on what the pictures were. Ein Blatt is a leaf. It was the only one i forgot.

Hope it is warm in NZ. :-)
Penny