Travelog for: Dottie Mouse

Hi Mum,

how are you today? I have been at the local university today. It's called TU Dortmund (TU = technical university). It exists since 1968 and has 2 campuses. The northern campus is bigger than the southern campus, but the southern one is more familiar.
At the northern campus are the natural sciences, the humane discipline and everything related to music. At the southern campus is the whole constructing stuff, like architecture, spatial planning and civil engineering.
I just visited the southern campus today, because my hosts studies spatial planning there.

Here you can see some of the buildings of the southern campus and above me are some tracks of the H-Bahn (Hochbahn or Hängebahn). The H-Bahn is an overhead track which connects the campuses.



And this is the H-Bahn



This small beaten path leads to a small forest



Well, Kate had two lectures today and both of them were in the same lecture hall. I couldn't take a picture inside the hall but hopefully I will be able to next time.




That's it for today

Love,
Dottie Mouse

My dearest Mum,

my host showed me some great places today. We started at the german mining museum ("Deutsches Bergbau Museum" ). It is one of the most important museums about mining worldwide. Aside from the normal museum you can go on the shaft tower and there's a recreated adit in in a depth of 20 meters which you can explore. The length of the tunnel is about 2,5km. 
Bochum and the whole Ruhr Area were famous for mining and industry. In the past, there were lots of collieries and steel productions in the Ruhr Area. Most of the collieries doesn't exist anymore.
This is me in front of the museum and a shaft tower:





This is a sculpture which is placed next to the museum. It shows a mine horse at work.




Hehehe, can you find me?



Afterwards Kate showed me the football stadium of the local football team "VFL Bochum". Earlier the stadium was called "Ruhrstadion" but since 2006 it is called "Rewirpowerstadion". Most of the footballfans still call it by its old name, it's kinda traditional
The VFL Bochum is currently playing in the German second league. They've been much better in the past, Kate has no idea what happened to the club that they became worse...




Here you can see the divisions of the stadium. The ones on the right side, (N, O, P and Q) are standing areas and for the fans of the VFL Bochum. Most of the other divisions have seats. "E2" (bottom left) is for the fans of the opposing team.



In this building, which is connected with the stadium itself, are the management, a fanshop and a bar. Between the building and the stadium is the VIP box, called "Rewirpower Lounge", it connects both places. People with lots of money watch the football games from this place, it has an own bar and restaurant and special seats in the stadium which are separated from the other "normal" seats. But you can also hire it for special events, my host celebrated her graduation party there. I'll go there on 22th June for the graduation party of some friends of my host. Maybe I can show you everything then, but I'm not quite sure at the moment.



This is the "Rundsporthalle". It's a veeery old sports hall next to the stadium.



Well, this is a very expensive hotel, called "Renaissance Hotel". I think it doesn't really look so expensive...



The last place that I visited today was an old church. It's called "Lutherkirche" and was built in 1911/1912. You know, almost every building in Bochum got destroyed in World War II and this church is one of the few buildings that remained and reminds of the history before World War II. It looks nice, doesn't it?




And finally this is what I saw when I turned around



I don't have anything more to tell right now, but I think these are enough informations for today

Hugs and kisses,
Dottie Mouse

Hi Mummy!!

How are you today?
Today was the first day of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (short: UEFA Euro 2012 or just Euro 2012). I watched the official opening and the first match on TV. The first match was Poland vs. Greece with the final result Poland 1 - 1 Greece. Many guys (actually 7 guys) of the polish national team are under contract to teams in Germany. Jakub Blaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and Lukas Piszczek are under contract to the BVB Borussia Dortmund and all of them became german champions with this club this year and also last year. That's the reason why we watched the match. Guess what, Lewandowski actually scored a goal!! Whoop whoop  And Blaszczykowski (most people call him just "Kuba" because his last name is hard to get everyone's tongues round, hahaha ) is the team leader of the polish national team, so every BVB fan is very proud of these guys

But well, here are some impressions of the opening:






This is Robert Lewandowski giving an interview:



And finally here you can see the march-in of the national teams of Poland and Greece. Kuba is the one at the very front with the number "16" on his jersey



Well, that's it for now. The first match of the german national team will be tomorrow and I'm gonna watch it with my host and a few friends of her. Can't wait!!

Love,
Dottie-Mouse

Hey there,

I have been to Herne today to visit a friend of my host. Herne is a more or less small city and is next to Bochum.
Well, I came here to see the football match Germany vs. Portugal with my host and a few friends of her. I had so much fun there!! There was another host, Tiffy, and the brought her TV's as well

Alright, but let's start at the beginning... At home, Kate and me prepared for the match and got a jersey of the german team out of the wardrobe. It's an old one, guess it's from 2006. The number 16 and the name "Lahm" are printed on it. Philipp Lahm was my host's favourite footballer when she was younger. Back then , when the jersey was bought, he was the youngest footballer in his team, now he is the leader of the team! Times are changing..



The 3 stars symbolize that the german team has been european champion 3 times (1972, 1980, 1996). Or maybe it means that it has been world champion 3 times (1954, 1974 and 1990). My host isn't quite sure when she got the jersey and if it's from the European Championship or the World Championship, but she thinks it's from the World Championship.



In Herne I met the other TV's, Sterni and NiliHH. I really like them We had so much fun watching the match!!



This picture was taken during the match, here you can see Lukas Podolski and another scene.




The guy who lives in the house where we watched the match is a student of medicine and he got a skeleton from my host and the others for his birthday this year. This skeleton watched the game with us and it was decorated!! Hilarious!!



Germany won the match with 1 goal, scored by Mario Gomez. Portugal couldn't score a goal...

Alright, time for bed now!! Sleep well

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mummy,

it rained cats and dogs all week!! It's unbelievable... Strange weather, it's summer and I want to have sunshine
However, even though it rained almost the whole day, I went for a walk at noon. I passed a meadow





As I moved on, I saw a terrific car Somehow I really like it, I can't explain why..



Near the car was an underpass with roadworks:



Afterwards I passed a small cemetry which belongs to the district where I live here in Bochum.






This way leads to the cemetry:




Back at home I ate some delicious noodle salad Yummy!



Well, let's come to the more or less boring part of my day... I helped my host to do some stuff for university... Here you can see me with the Federal Building Code:




Now let me introduce you a lovely dog called "Lady". She is a Jack Russell terrier and more than 12 years old. She's the dog of my host. She really liked me  haha





Alright, that was my day!! I hope you had a nice day
Wish you a nice weekend.

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mum!!

How are you? Hope you're fine!!
It's my host's birthday today and I took some really nice pictures, unfortunately the memory card doesn't work anymore so I can't show you the pictures!!! 
I have no idea if it'll work in the next days... In other ways my host will get another memory card on saturday but our last taken pictures will be lost then So I just want you to know that I'm sooo sorry that I can't show you some pictures this week

Lots of Love,
Dottie Mouse

Alright, it's me again,

my host was lucky enough to be able to recover some of the files, so I can show you some of the pictures now yay!!

We started our morning in Bochum at Kate's parents




Mhhh yummy cheese cake!!



At noon we went to university and we just came home to Dortmund about 6pm At home Kate got some presents from her friends. A wonderful chest with british theme



It was full of presents




And a lovely birthday card



Yeah, that's it for today...

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mummy,

how's life treating you? Hope you're fine!!
I have been to Datteln today, it's a small city near Dortmund. I went to a small theatre there, named "KatiElli Theater". It's a former motion-picture theatre but now it's a real theatre since one or two years, guess it only has about 140 seats. I really like it there, everything's quite familiar there. The owner is a musical perfomer and takes part in every single show that is shown there. Tonight's show was called "Et Lisbeth", it's a musical comedy. It was great!!!

On our way to Datteln we passed another small city, called "Castrop-Rauxel". I took some pictures out of the car for you, couldn't stop there because we were very late.. whoops 



I love this old church!!!



Here you can see the theatre from the outside and the inside





Alright, that's it for today
I'm gonna watch the musical "Starlight Express" in Bochum tomorrow, I'm quite excited!!!!

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey there,

I've been to the theatre again. This time I watched the musical "Starlight Express" by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musical is about the world championship of the trains, where many different engines want to win the races. Besides it's about finding self-confidence and true love. The male maincharacters are Greaseball - the Diesel engine, Electra - the electric engine and Rusty - the steam engine.
My host told me that the theatre was built from 1986 til 1988 especially for this show, with skating rinks which show rails through the audium, different levels and a great technology. The show opened in 1988 and is still shown today without any interruptions. A special thing about this show is, that every actor wears roller skates because they play trains.
There's a world record for the most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. I think this is very impressive.

Today was a special day, one of the performers - Adam Sheffield - had is first show as the character Greaseball today. Normally he plays Ruhrgold, the german ICE. Adam is part of the Starlight Express for a few years now so it is very special for him to be allowed to play Greaseball from time to time from now on.
Well, me and the other TV's supported him during the show, it was great fun and he did an awesome job!

However, I couldn't take a picture of the theatre from the outside today because it was heavy rain, but I have some indoor pictures
On the following pictures you can see the foyer. Some of the characters are drawn on the wall and there's a castboard which shows the names of the performers of today's show.




And this is the audium and the stage. The barrier in the middle of the stage is just during the break so that the audience doesn't walk on the stage.



Billy and me:


We met some other TV's there, Sterni and NiliHH which are currently hosted by Tiffy.


And our TV group grew bigger... Batgirl and Marawarpina joined us as well, they are hosted by Lizzy at the moment. 


Next time I'll take some pictures of the theatre and the forecourt when the weather gets better

Lots of Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mummy!!

Guess where I've been today!! I've been at the German Sea for a day today. It's about 4 hours by car from Bochum to the North Sea. The weather was okay. It rained outward bound but it stopped raining as we arrived there what a timing!! Well, it was a bit foggy at the beginning, but anyways.
But let me start at the beginning. I had to get up early in the morning, the departure was about 8am. After a while we stopped at a motorway service area because my host's dog had to walk, eat and drink something. So I had time to discover the area.






About 12am we arrived in:

Norddeich

We took a walk along the dike and the beach. It was a bit foggy but it didn't rain, so it was okay for me. There were only a few people there, well... it's not holiday time at the moment.




Billy and me on a beach chair:



Here you can see us on a big anchor:



Peek-a-boo



Unfortunatly it was low tide when we were there, but well. They have a swimming pool near the beach. I wonder why people pay money to go swimming in a pool when they can go to the beach..



Alright, afterwards we went to:

Nessmersiel

It's a very very very small town. Well, actually it is just a dirstrict of the municipal area "Dornum", Dornum belongs to the administrative district of "Aurich".
Most of the houses in Nessmersiel are holiday houses, so out of summer season there's almost noone there.
The beach of Nessmersiel is just very small. My host told me that it once has been bigger than now, but I have no idea what happened...

This is an old mill in Nessmersiel, but it's closed now, that's why there are some typical things missing:



Here you can see an old sluice gate:






This is another old sluice gate:


And finally, this is the beach of Nessmersiel.




And last but not least we visited:

Neuharlingersiel

Neuharlingersiel is a district of the city "Esens", which belongs to the administrative district of "Wittmund". Neuharlingersiel is much bigger than Nessmersiel and it has a beautiful harbour!! God, I love it there.







On our way back home we passed another old mill. It's 200 years old, it's from 1812!!


Well yeah, that was my trip to the German Sea. It was very exhaustively but it was a nice day and I saw many nice places today

Lots of Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hello there,

I've been to Oberhausen today to do some shopping It takes about 20 or 25 minutes by car from Bochum to Oberhausen, so it isn't that far away. There's a big shopping mall called "CentrO". There are many shops and a big food concourse. Next to the mall is a stream with a promenade. It's lovely to sit in one of the cafés or restaurants along the promenade.
The weather was absolutely lovely today!! 

Well, this is the food concourse in the mall:


Have a look at the mall, it is very long and there are 2 floors.


And this is the promenade outdoors.



The awesome Irish Pub:


And last but not least there's a theatre, called "Metronom Theater". Musicals like "Wicked", "Dance of the Vampires" and "Beauty and the Beast" have been shown there, but currently there's a musical called "Dirty Dancing". Bet you know the movie, Mum. But my host told me that it's not worth watching the musical.


Alright, that's it about my day here in Oberhausen. I had much fun and enjoyed sitting at the promenade and watching the people go by.

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mum,

long time no type, I'm so sorry!! How is moving house going? Hope you're not too stressed! Feel hugged!!
My host has been very busy and still is, so I couldn't visit so many places. But what could I do... It's raining all week, it's kinda depressing 
Well, today I visited a furniture shop called "zurbrüggen" in Herne, a city next to Bochum. I just needed to flee from the rain!!



A special thing is that there are no stairs, there's just a huge ascent in the middle of the building which rises like a spiral to the highest floor. (Okay, and there's an elevator



As you know, Billy stays with me here at our host and he's from South Africa. We found some furniture that reminded us of South Africa, with the elephants, giraffes and all that stuff.



Alright, that's it for now.

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hi Mummy

good news, no rain today!! Even though there were some really dark clouds, but in the end it didn't rain.
I visited the "Phoenix See" in Dortmund today. It's a new project in a district called "Hörde" with an artificially produced lake and new homes, offices, gastronomy and an insomnia clinic around the lake. There are still many construction zones because some things are still not ready. The lake area was permitted to the public in 2010, so as you can see everything's very new.
Besides, there are remains of an old castle near the lake, called "Hörder Burg". The remaining building was refurnished and looks quite new now.




The castle was built some time between the years 1100 and 1200, so it's very old!! Here you can see some original foundations of the castle near the building:



In the past, the area of the lake was an industrial area with furnaces and all that stuff. Among other things there was a converter that refined crude iron into crude steel.
This is the old converter, called "Thomas Konverter". I took a picture of a sign with informations for you I hope it isn't too small and you can read it!!




Here you can see the lake itself from different angles.




This is a creek called "Emscher" which flows from Holzwickede (next to Dortmund) to Dinslaken and has a length of 83,1 kilometers!! It flows along the Phoenix See. Do you see the cranes in the background? It's the construction areas of the new insomnia clinic.



And the other direction:



And finally this is an old industrial building next to the Emscher and near the lake. It is protected as a historic monument so it can't get demolished. It gets completely refurbished and the building is expected to have some nice flats. Can't really imagine, but who knows.... maybe it's gonna be a real beauty.



That's it for today

I love you, Mum!!

Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hey Mum,

I am very busy at the moment with helping Kate doing some stuff for university. We study very hard because there's an exam about economics in August. Urgh! The tables in Kate's flat were too small for all the things that we needed, so we had to sit on the floor, not the best position to study...





Love,
Dottie Mouse

Hello Mum,

guess what, I'm going to Vienna with my host!! We'll stay there from monday morning until thursday evening, I can't wait!!!
We had to pack the suitcase in Dortmund today because we'll spend the weekend in Bochum and won't come back to Dortmund until next weekend. I really can't wait





Monday will be pretty hard for me.. The plane departs about 6am so we have to be at the airport about 4am. That means that we have to leave the house about 3am!! Jesus, I'll be tired as hell and I won't sleep that night because Kate and her friend Tiffy decided to pull an all-nighter in a bar.  Tiffy takes 2 TV's called Frosty and Marawarpina with her, I don't know Frosty yet but I think he's gonna be a nice guy. Marawarpina stayed with my host a few months ago and I already met her at the Starlight Express theatre. Nice to see her again.

I'll tell you everything about my holiday in Vienna when I'm back.

Love,
Dottie Mouse