Travelog for: Nathalie

Hello mum,

Today we went shopping in Wilster and it was already dark outside, so we took a short walk to the christmas tree next to the Town Hall. It looks nice! Can't wait until hostmum will decorate the christmas tree inside our house!

Then we went to see the "Honigflether Schöpfmühle" a small mill that was build around 1850. Hundreds of these special mills have been built in this region in the past - they didn't grind corn but transport water from the lower levels up to the fields. This is one of the few mills that still exists - and full functioning!

For christmas time each year the mill is illumated at night which looks beautiful!



You can't hardly see me in the picture ...



Here I'm sitting on one of the vanes ...



Here's some information on the mill and hostmum reads it to me. You can read everything about the mill here.



That was another cool and interesting day :-)

Good night, Mum!

Hi Mum,

we've been playing dice tonight! Hostmum was our referee, she watched us closely so we couldn't cheat *gg*



We had to score all numbers from 2 to 12 with two dice and who finishes first will win the game. The winner receives a gingerbread cookie!

I had to choose two dice and Tigerlily holds the dice box.



Tigerlilys first score was 8, mine was 6.





We kept on throwing the dice until there was only one score left for both of us. I needed 12 and Tigerlily 2.



It's Tigerlily's turn - here she goes:



Oh no, a double ace - she won!!!



She gets the gingerbread from hostmum and demands to listen to Motörhead's ACE OF SPADES while we eat.



Tigerlily is a good friend and shared the cookie with me, I even got the bigger half. Yummy!



Good night and kisses
from Nathalie

Hi Mum - I'm so excited, need to tell you about my special encounter today:

I met some real ducks!




Hostmum and I have been in Glückstadt today and parked the car near two small lakes at the Municipal park.
Right in front of the car I saw two ducks! I jumped out, walked over to them and we chatted (cackled!) a while.

One of them was very colorful - the other one looked like me!



Hostmum explained to me that these are "Stockenten" (Mallards) and that male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females have mainly brown-speckled plumage.

This explains why I don't have so many colours - because I am girl!

That was a nice and interesting encounter!

Bye-bye - I wish you could have been with me today, Mum!

Hello!

Postcrossing Day! Me and Tigerlily helped hostmum to write loads of postcards!



I'm so excited - I can't wait for Christmas!
Can't wait for the Christmas tree to be decorated and Santa Claus coming!
ooohhh, it's still four days to go 



Bye for today - miss you, Mummy!

Dear Mum,

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!

I wish you all the best and I hope you have a nice Christmas day with all your Family and friends!

I will tell you all about my "Heiligabend" and the celebration we had in the next few days!

Hugs & kisses from
Nathalie

Hi Mum,

finally it's Christmas! On "Heiligabend", the 24th of December, we've been celebrating christmas at hostmum's house.

First I wished hostmum and Tigerlily a Merry Christmas!



That's me sitting in the christmas tree:



... and under the tree with Tigerlily and all the christmas presents.



Unwrapping my present:







It's a puzzle!













It's a goose family! What did you get for Christmas this year, Mum?

Later we sat by the fireplace, talked, drank, laughed - just had a wonderful christmas evening!



Although it was a wonderful christmas day I missed you, Mum! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Bye for today!
Nathalie

Hi Mum,

today we helped hostmum cooking a traditional German dish: Karpfen Blau (cooked carp).

We have a huge cooking pot with water, onions and several spices (bay leaves, pimento, salt ...)



Here's the fish (it looks disgusting ... but it tasted very good in the end!).



... potatoes, lemons, parsley ...







Yummy - it looked strange but tasted very good!

Bye-bye!

Hi Mum,

I hope you had fun celebrating the New Year's Eve!
Wishing you all the very best for the 2014!

Hostmum made a nice dinner for us - meat fondue with fresh salad and bread. Tasty!

Here you see me and Tigerlily celebrating "Silvester" (New Year's Eve) with sparklers!





Right after 12 o'clock we did "Bleigießen" (a German New Year's Eve custom of telling fortunes by the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water). That was fun!





More sparklers!



We then went outside to take a look at the fireworks and meet the neighbors - we all wished each other a happy new year, had a drink, chatted and laughed a lot. Sorry, hostmum forgot to make pictures!

We don't know what the future holds in store for us in 2014 - I hope only good things, especially health and happiness!

Yours,
Nathalie

Hi Mum!

Today a new TV arrived at our place - it's Hemming, the cute little wolf! He came all the way from Delft!

Me and host-mum already awaited him!





Hemming is so cute! I'm so glad he arrived, because I'm the only TV in the house right now - I don't have to feel so alone anymore!



We had a nice cup of tea and some chocolate, sat around and talked the whole evening.



Good night!

Hi Mum,

when I woke up this morning it started to rain - so this was the last chance to built a snowman, before all the snow had melted. Hemming and I quickly headed outside ...

And here's our snowman!





Bye-bye for today!
Hugs, Nathalie

Hi Mom,

as the weather was so nice, hostmum stopped at the "Stör-Sperrwerk" (flood barrier) where you have a nice view.

At this place the river Stör runs into river Elbe. You can see the Elbe behind us.



And this is the barrier behind Hemming and me.



Here's some information about the flood barrier and how it works.



On the other side you can see the river Stör (there are still some ice floes)



The sunshine was so nice - but it didn't last long, soon it was getting very misty ....

Bye-bye for today!
Yours,
Nathalie

Hi Mum -

I'm so excited! Today hostmum told me that I'm going to ENGLAND to visit sneakysnail end of this week!
We checked the toyvoyagers page and browsed through some travellogs so I could get an impression of where I'm going!



It was nice in Schleswig-Holstein but now I'm really looking forward to new adventures in GREAT BRITAIN!
Maybe I'll get to meet the Queen and the rest of the royal family ...
Wooohooo!

Good night,
Nathalie

Hi Mum,

today was the big day - I'm leaving for Great Britain!

I said goodbye to hostmum and Hemming.



Bye Hemming, take care!



Hemming was a very kind wolf, I had a nice time with him. Already miss him!



Then it was time for me to crawl into my package ...



There's some chocolate (if I don't get too hungry during the journey I might leave it for my new hostmum) and a postcard from Beidenfleth. And of course I take the puzzle with me I got for Christmas. Hostmum promised to watch my future entries in my travellog.

And off I go ... England I'm coming!

Bye-bye!
Nathalie