Christmas time...

...is upon us. And I have already been to three different Christmas markets. Normally I make about two different ones in one Christmas season. But no - I was at my home area for my mom's birthday and had another job interview in another big German city. And obviously the Heidelberg Christmas market is a must-see. So I'll hope to post pictures of those Christmas markets everyday from now on.

I wish you all a merry Christmas season! :)

The doors

On Monday was the last day of a special training I had to attend to. To make matters worse, I ran a fever on Friday and spent all weekend in bed, so I really didn't feel that great. But actually as we spent the whole day in front of the computer surfing the www, it wasn't that bad. I even found one of the best sites ever! Woohoo! (The Internet was invented just for me - the little girl inside me has never shut up asking its questions day after day. And the Internet provides (almost) all answers! For every other question that might arise try 42 as answer.)
The picture above is from a newly opened Chinese garden in Thuringia. Very authentic work - the Chinese ambassador to Germany attended the opening ceremony.

Books are the doors to all kind of worlds: Fantastic, Exotic, Alien! I was the happiest girl out there, when I was finally old enough to learn to read and write and was allowed to get a library pass for our little town library (It is really small.) I remember reading a lot of Enid Blyton (mainly the St. Claire's series which is called "Hanni und Nanni" in Germany). To my horror I don't remember much of those first reading years, they were spent with the usual girly novels (mostly about boarding school and horseback riding). I guess, this is just as well. My love to Erich Kästner didn't awake before my late teens and Astrid Lindgren I just recently started to read (even though I saw the television adaptions of most of her works in my younger years).
Interestingly, when I went back to my little library last year to donate some of my old science books the librarian remembered me vividly. (Even before I started to read I would love to look trough all books about nature and geography I could  explain a volcano to Grandfather Walter. Subsequently, I got a lot of science books for my birthday throughout my childhood days.) She told me somewhat sheepishly that some books were only ever lend to me as no one else ever showed interest in them. In those times, I believed that every book was worth my attention. Sadly, I was wrong.

The Doors open to light and shadow in front of you. You might never know what lies behind it if you never dare to enter. But on the other hand - which doors are out there exactly? As I was asked today what I really plan to do with my future I answered that there are many possibilities, but couldn't actually think about much. Well, I have a plan B, a plan C and even a D. But what about plan A?

Yes, there certainly are doors that will never open up for me.

But sometimes we look for great and polished doors like these...

...when we should rather search for little, inconspicuous doors like this one. Maybe there is something worthwhile behind it?

Greetings!

It's November - REALLY?

Uh oh - I just realized that the year is coming to close. Very fast. Like in super fast and unstoppable. Where is Kronos - God of Time - if you need him? Maybe he could stop the fast spinning trough time and space just for a tiny second? Which wouldn't work. Obviously.

But Christmas time will be upon us in a short while. My American Family will celebrate Thanksgiving, soon. And in Germany we will think of the dead on the "Sunday of the Dead" (Totensonntag) before entering the festive mood. Or at least that is what my family still does. The rest of Germany - especially supermarkets - seem to be fully prepared for Christmas season already. Chocolate Santas and advent calendars are on full display everywhere. Since late August. It's just getting more crazy every year.

So, the time has come to do some Christmas DIY as I don't have money. And my statistics tell me, that you guys love my DIY origami coaster post. So, I'll prepare something like that in the very near future!

Other than that, here are some pictures of November so far:

Last October weekend: It already looks very November-like in the middle of the colorful Thuringian forest. And I found a whole bunch of wool (still in it's natural form, though) for new knitting projects. See - there is even a black sheep! (This is in an English style park in Bad Liebenstein. So they use sheep to maintain its form. Otherwise the forest would claim the space in no time.)

Yes, that's the little castle that goes with this hidden jewel of a landscape park. Doesn't it look quite English to you? It's called Altenstein and was originally built in 1736 and was meant as a summer residence to the Herzog of Meiningen in South Thuringia. It was rebuilt between 1888 and 1889 to look like an old-renaissance style English country residence. For more information click here.

Some wanderers enjoy the view from Altenstein (and are drinking sparkling wine). Even though the day was quite foggy (which is our usual November weather in Thuringia), you can anticipate the great view one normally has from this point. The Thuringian forest and its little forest villages never cease to astonish me. I hope to visit the place where glitter balls (aka Weihnachtsbaumkugeln) have been invented during my next trip to my home area. It's a little sleepy town right in the middle of this vast Thuringian forest.

Back in Heidelberg I visited the graveyard. Behold! Halloween was already over, though. (It was my first time that I gave out candy to scary children at the door! Well, only two children, who deserved it, and two teenager who were rather pathetic for going out the get free candy. And that was it! Halloween is just a recent development here in Germany and I'm just a little bit jealous for having missed all the fun as I'm way too old for this ... festival.) No, the Bergfriedhof (Mountain graveyard) of Heidelberg is very famous in its own right as many famous people are buried here.

Memento Mori! Graveyards really aren't my favorite place of the world as I have quite too many loved ones there already. (Isn't that a contradiction? Well, I don't really believe that my loved ones are waiting for me at their graves. They are always with me, guarding me and maybe sometimes guiding me. That's what I want to believe anyway. Even though it would actually feel weird to not have a place to go to...) Time is ticking away and death is waiting. Unbelievable that one can make such a lovely mosaic out of that...

The graveyard is still in use. And the new graves are mixed in between the old ones. Sometimes only stone plates remain. Other times there are whole closed up family crypts. I even found one by some dukes of Thuringia, which I found odd and interesting. (Thuringia is 3 hours away by modern standards.) But I guess the dukes went to university here and maybe liked Heidelberg so much. Maybe.

You can find all kind of statues and tombs here. I really liked hiking there. And let me tell you - the place was packed with people who went for their sunday stroll. And quite a few of them also sported impressive camera equipment to take some pics. So I didn't feel too odd about taking pictures myself. Even though the day was beautiful and sunny, I left the place with a rather gloom feeling. I only found one famous deceased: Robert Bunsen. For more information on the Bergfriedhof go here (German only - sorry).

See you around!

The Ghost of Japan

It's Halloween Night and I have nothing better to do than torturing you with my English. (It's no good at night, let me tell you.) During my spontaneous Japan trip this year I didn't take as many pictures as I used to. May it be that Japan is no longer an alien place to me - it feels like an old friend who welcomes me back with open arms - or may it be that I was occupied with other important stuff this time. Furthermore, my camera's age is 5 now and it's not even a good one, too. (If I'll ever find a job, I'll totally spent my first salary on a good but compact camera.)

Japanese school girls enjoying after school shopping at the Takeshita doori in Harajuku. Yes, THE Harajuku - a place I dearly love. (Sorry, it is cliché for a foreigner to like this place. But I still like it...)

The Yamanote line train bound for Shinagawa/ Tokyo stopping at Harajuku train station.

My Quest: As soon as I'll have my feet on Japanese soil I need to find Fanta grape. I'm fairly sure it is outlawed in Germany as there is absolutely no juice of actual grapes inside (as says the printing on the bottle) and the color is very illegal, too. But hell, do I love this stuff.

Downtown Tokyo (called Marunouchi) near Tokyo Main station. The castle of the Tenno is in this area, too.

Shinjuku, near Takashimaya Times Square and the big Kinokuniya bookstore. Shinjuku station is around here, too.

Dusk in Shinjuku.

Little cutiepies.

Totally adorable milk bottle.

People working.

The "Monster" on the day of departure in Narita.

This outside camera perspective was totally worth the money. And the earth sure is round. (Somewhere above Siberia.)

Just looking at these pics makes me wanna go back to Japan ASAP. Well, the time will come.

Meanwhile, Good Night and sweet dreams from Germany.

Meanwhile, fall in Thuringia

Shortly after coming back from Japan, I spent a weekend at home and I persuaded my mom to go sightseeing with me. Our lovely home area has quite a lot of old stones to offer and Erfurt and its majestic cathedral have become quite popular over the last years. (The Pope just visited. You might have heard.)

I have shared pictures of Erfurt and the Krämerbrücke before. And I love this little bookstore at the Krämerbrücke, which has already won many prices.

Thuringia is a magical place. It was once home to many dukes, counts and earls (and their wife) and so there are castles all over the place. And castle towns such as this little sleepy place. But really, there are a lot of such villages in Thuringia.

Soon, it's Halloween season and this little shack might be the right home for a witch. It's right next to the castle wall. Sadly, the castle has withered away.

Instead there was this building. Not very castle like, or? After the last landgrave of Thuringia had died the castle, that stood here was neglected and is nowadays in dire need of repair (there is still a little bit standing...).

After the reunification of Germany, Thuringian towns and villages got financial help to restore historical buildings. But as Thuringia is full of old stuff, in many places the financial help offered wasn't enough. Private NPOs try to safe old churches, that haven't been used for decades as the socialist regime of the GDR tried its best to denounce religious belief. So this church is in one of the worst states I've ever seen a church in. As the roof lets rain in, the NPO tried to save pictures and the altar by covering them with wood panels.

This is really a pitiful sight. Just looking at the roof tells you everything there is to know about the chance of this church to hold up the next century or so. So this little village came up with an idea to get more tourists to visit them. It's an idea that other villages also had and which makes Thuringia a state with rather exotic places. I'll tell you more later.

Another Thuringian town I really like is Bad Langensalza. I haven't been there too often yet, though. It just recently won an European price. Basically it is a "Bad" (bath), which means it has special facilities for people to get better after severe illnesses or accidents. And its really a relaxing place to be.

The tower of the church is really unusual for my home area, I have to say. It really fascinates me. From what I gather you can go up there and have a nice view over the area. The Hainich National Park, that was announced World Heritage this June, is just around the corner.

If you ever have the chance - please visit the green heart of Germany. There are many things to behold and marvel at.

Greetings!

Fall in HD

It was a wonderful day here in HD - a splendid fall day! And as I'm stuck with Germany (boooring!) for the time being, I should enjoy it as long as it lasts. It is and has been my motto for years: Find the extraordinary in the ordinary. And thinking from a Japanese perspective I'm actually living the dream of many Japanese - to be right in the middle of a romantic German town.

Actually buildings in HD aren't really that old. Compared to my other beloved Alma Mater town of Marburg. But I like buildings from the Gründerzeit, which can be found here and there all over the town. The facades are richly decorated and the sunlight paints nice shades.

A typical back street in HD.

Normally, I don't venture into town on Saturdays. It's just too packed with tourists. Many of which are Asian (or American). This group consisted of South Koreans. At least that's my guess because they've got a nun and my Japanese radar didn't go off. (Yes, that's how twisted I am.)

HD's most famous bakery. Always packed with people and rather pricey. The "castle balls" are the most famous treat they sell. So if you ever visit HD - you know where to go.

This couple was just too cute. Sorry, cute couple for taking your picture. If anyone recognizes him/herself in these pics I've taken - please contact me if you want the picture removed. Well, you can see how packed it is. Not cozy at all.

Well, that was my little stroll trough HD. Hoped you liked it and you'll come here in person some day.

Greetings!

Evolution of September

Again, let me apologize for neglecting this little space of mine in september (only 3 posts!). As you know I was kind of busy. September started innocent enough: With a view over my current home town Heidelberg with its famous bridge and castle. It sure is a lovely town and I will be sad once I'll leave for good.

Well, then I finally went on vacation after two years without any fresh air and sand under my feet. While the German summer had been rather wet, rainy and cold, my family was lucky and we could spent some nice sunny days at the seaside on Germany's second largest island Usedom. As the beach is the longest in Germany (over 50 km) one can walk on and on and feel the baltic sea water splashing against one's feet. I really love that and feel very relaxed afterwards.

At Usedoms northern peak there is a museum I've wanted to visit for quite a long time. As my parents aren't very interested in such things, I went on our last day of vacation alone. It is the Historical Technical Museum, that shows the history of rockets and space travel. Sadly, this history includes Nazis and V1 and V2 rockets, that were meant to destroy English cities during WWII. The museum really surprised me with its wide range of artifacts and its effort on showing the whole story. The question they ask about the ethics of science is sadly still very up to date. I really liked the design of the different rooms, like the one above, where there are files stacked up to the ceiling and the red letters depict "Top Secret"(*better translation: Secret command) in old German script. As you can see, the museum was quite packed with people from all around the world. English and Polish speaking people were all around me. For people, who don't know: The rocket specialists, who had worked here, were shipped off to different countries after the defeat of Nazi Germany. Most of them to the USA, where they helped developing the first rockets to carry people to space and to the moon.

The sunrise above Russia viewed from an A380 on my way to Japan. September reached its peak with my unexpected travel to Japan, about which I'll tell you next time. More pictures to come!

Greetings!