Travelog for: Lady Sirina

When my mentor goes home from class it's already dark this time of the year. Sill here are some pictures of our way back:
This sign asks bikers to cycle slowly.

This tunnel we have to take to pass under the street.
The walls are full of pictures.

Street lights are very bad in this city. The use kinds that are supposed to save energy, plus there are big distances between them and they are very high up. esp. old people have problems getting along without help. Only the real city center is illuminated well.


This "Adventskalender" shows some palazzos along the Canal Grande of Venezia: Palazzo Dario (gothic with polychrome marble decorations, built in 1479), Palazzo Pisani (17th century), Ca' d'Oro ("Golden House" of 1440, originally it had a gilded front) and the Palazzo Contarini (from the second half of the 15th century).

[color=sienna]We opened the first door today and saw... Basilica di San Marco as seen from the Piazza San Marco.


The second calendar is one with little angels where one can put a tea-light inside and the light will shine through the pictures.


In the first window there's a snowflake. (In reality one can see the snowflake better and the still closed pictures not as well, as in the photo.)

Another day, another picture:

The Venetian winged lion from the gable of the Basilica di San Marco.


A cloud in this one

First the Adventcalendar pictures from yesterday:
a Murano glass vial

and a cookie


We went outside again today, but it rained a lot when we were out and kept raining more or less all day long. It was also very windy, so we took only one picture in the street hat leads to the market place and has a few Christmas lights. Unfortunately you can't see much, because the flash makes the rest of the picture very dark. I am glad to be back inside, though with a cup of hot tea called Ruhrgebiet's Traum, it's a blend of black tea and fruits with some herbs. It's warming me up nicely.


Today's calendar pictures are:
St. Mark's lion on the column

and a shooting star!

Lady Sirina has just boarded her envelope to take her to her next host tomorrow.

I'm back on fresh air! Luckily it was just a short journey, but the envelope was packed with some surprises for my new host and there wasn't much space left. A huge TV called Luddie welcomed me when I jumped out of the envelope.
Here I'm with Luddie and the surprises. The little teddy will become a TV sometime next year, that was the first thing that came to Katrin's mind.

We're in the archive of the museum where Katrin is spending her practical term for university. She is still working with old photos. They are from the 1920es and show photos taken from a zeppelin. They are already scaned and Katrin has to write entries for each photo for the database.


Me and a photo from Egypt, well I'm on my way to complete one of my missions.


It's lunch time and we are waiting for Katrin's boyfriend. It's his birthday today and in the bag is his present. Katrin also organised a pot of coffee for him.


Look, the clementine has the same size as I have...

Back home in Kellinghusen Katrin decided to learn a bit English for her trip to California in January.
Good for her that she has two American guests, we wanted to help her, but she didn't had any questions...

Today Katrin took me with her to Hamburg again. She has to go to her university today and give a presentation about her practical term. She was a bit nervous and wanted to have something that calms her a bit. She chose me, because I'm small and can be hold in one hand and be squeezed a bit. Not a great idea...but if it helps Katrin, I'm fine...

This is the empty lecture room...


...but luckily Katrin got a small room for her presentation. It took her about 15 minutes to tell everything she wanted and everything went fine.


After the presentation a was looking for something to eat and found some "Lebkuchen" (the ones with chocolate) und "Spekulatius", the tasted great!


In the afternoon Katrin had to work. Her boss was in a good mood and told her that she has just one important thing to do today: Sending christmas cards to more than 60 firms. This is how we get startet. Katrin printed address labels that was so much better than writing all the addresses by hand.


About an hour later Katrin has finished with the envelopes, the are like a mountain to me!

Today is baking time! Katrin wanted to try to create a cake without using wheat flour. She is using flour made of     buckwheat instead.
Here we have prapared the baking tray.


We put some mandarines on the dough and sprinkled them with almonds.


Waiting...


...but we were interrupted by the postman. He brought a little surprise letter for Christmas from Australia!


Half an hour later a tasty smell filled the kitchen. The cake looked great and it tasted very good.

Today Katrin wanted to discovers some streets of Kellinghusen where she hasn't been for quite a long time. We ended on the edge of this field...It looks very strange having this field in the middle of the city. Then Katrin remembered that she has been here to visit a circus when she was in primary school.


This is the entrance of her kindergarten, it looks more colorful than she had it in mind. Well, it's been nearly 15 years when she has entered the house the last time...


We had a nice walk through the town, but unfortunately the batteries of Katrin's camera didn't want to work anymore. Nice reason to spend some time around Kellinghusen again.

Here we are preparing Katrin's breakfast for tomorrow. She has decided to eat kind of buckwheat flakes.
This is her flour mill...


...and this are her "flakes".


Well, it doesn't look very tasty and we mixed it with some  pumpkinseeds. Tomorrow we'll add some cream and some fruits and then it's ready to be eaten.

Today Katrin took me to the museum again.
In her office there is this poster on the wall and Katrin asked me whether I could explain her the thing with the box-office. I didn't understand what she wants to know and she looked up the words in a dictionary and then she understood.


Then I met one of Santa's little helpers.


The yard of the museum


This is one of the famous "Tempo"- cars from the 1950ies. You could drive them without a driver's license and they had just three wheels!


This is TRUDE, the drill with was used to build a tunnel under the river Elbe.


In the lift, on the way back to the office.


Katrin was a really happy this afternoon because her boss told her that she can go home two hours earlier than usual.
Here we are on the train back home.

Here we are in the kitchen in Schwerin, where Katrin's boyfriend lives. Katrin did some very strange things this morning. She put peppermint leaves and black tea in a bowl of hot water and put a piece of paper in it.


In the afternoon, the paper got a brown color and Katrin let it dry.


Now I know what she's doing: Katrin is working on a letter for a swap on swap-bot! She used ink and a quill to let it look like a very old letter.

Today the weather was nice (at least when we left the house), but very windy. We had a nice walk around the beautiful castle of Schwerin. The gouvernment of the "Bundesland" Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is situated here.


The castle is on an island, this is the view back to the city: you can see the tower of the cathedral on the left, the white building in the middle is the state theater and the building on the right is the state museum.


We met some ducks, they came right next to us before we scared them away...



The church of the castle.


This is the view over the lake of Schwerin.


One of the old lantern at the back of the castle


Me with a funny guy on a sundial


It's showtime: Luddie and I wanted to show our talent as actors.
I got cought by a puma and Luddie is going to rescue me.



We did a great job, right?

When we arrived in Hamburg central station with the train from Schwerin, Katrin got excited when we came to the platform where the train back to Kellinghusen leaves: It's the first time that she goes home with a two-storeyed train.


Katrin chose this single seat because there is enough place for her suitcase.


Back home there were many letters and postcards waiting for Katrin.


We could also welcome a new guest: It's Sportie, who has just arrived from the US. Unfortunately her trip to Germany was really bumpy and she lost one eye.


Luddie hugged Sportie and I took a needle and a yarn and started to fix the eye which Katriin discovered in the envelope.


And here we are with a smiling Sportie