In the beginning of my vacation I have made two trips to Germany. First I visited my penpal Francisca in Hamburg. I was there a long weekend. One week later I visited my other German penpal Claudia in Senden, a town near Munster.
Hamburg
Hamburg is a huge city and Francisca is really a child of this city. So she showed me around and we could visit the most special places in her city. Among other things we visited the harbor. The harbor of Hamburg is the second biggest of Europe and it is located not far from the town center. That is cool because the biggest ships can dock close to the center. In a little boat we made a tour floating by ships that were really towering over our heads. Quite spectacular I must say! I have added a slide show with pictures from the boat tour across the harbor. Most of the pictures were made by Francisca. She had a better place in the boat to make pictures, but she is also a better photographer then me. The music that comes with the slide show is the same song that was played by a band on a boat as we walked near the harbor. The picture of that band is the first picture in the slide show. The song they played was Moviestar, originally sung by the Swedish singer Harpo.
We also visited the zoo, which is called 'Hagenbeck'. One of the main attractions is the baby elephant they have walking around out there. Before we went to the Hamburg history museum. On the last day we also visited a lot of churches. The church below ist the main church of the city, called St. Michael. The tower is 130 meters high.
I have put several pictures of my visit to Hamburg in a photo page.
Senden
A
few days after my visit to Hamburg I returned to Germany to
visit Claudia. Claudia and I write each-other 3,5 years
now. A few years ago she visited me and now it was time for
me to visit her. Claudia lives in Senden, a town not too
far from the city of Muenster. It is not too far from The
Netherlands, only 2,5 hours driving.
On saturday we visited a lot of castles that are in the
area. There are loads of them in the so called
'Munsterland'. Here is a picture of the 'Versailles' of
Westfalen, Schloss Nordkirchen.
Schloss Nordkirchen is
still used as a school. We also discovered that it is a
popular place to get married. We saw 5 or 6 couples out
there. Nordkirchen is the biggest castle in the area, but
every place has it's castle. After Nordkirchen we visited
Ludinghausen. There we visited another castle, Burg
Vischering and we ate an ice-cream. At the
'San Remo Eis
Cafe' they serve the
biggest ice-creams I have ever seen! 40 cm high towers,
I saw there! And that isn't the largest they have over
there.
In the evening we did a cycling tour in Senden. Claudia
showed me where she works and she showed me some
interesting things in Senden. After that we had a good meal
at a local italian restaurant.
The next day we went to Muenster. A really beautiful city.
I felt a bit at home because of all the bicycles in the
city. In the morning we went to a traditional Mass in a
church in the center of Muenster. It is really good they do
that out there, because for a lot of Catholics it is
inspirational. In Muenster I visited a lot of churches
because I am very interested in that. We were also in the
room where they made the agreement which went into history
as the peace of Munster. It is sort of the birth place of
my country, The Netherlands. After 80 years of war Spain
recognised the 'Republic of the Seven
United Netherlands' as an independent state. That was in
1648. So it was special to be in this room that was left
intact since 1648!
I have added a slide show
with the
pictures from my Senden trip. When I drove back I was
listening to the radio and they played a song by Mark
Knopfler. Everytime when I think of the weekend in
Senden that songs comes into my head again. So that's
why I choose that song for the slide show!