Travelog for: Boo Boo

On Saturday we had a sightseeing day.

First we went to the seaside and harbour of Thessalonikki. We enjoyed the beautiful weather. Sunshine all day long in November!





This is me  in front of the White tower, the landmark of Thessalonikki.





Then we started a tour south to some archeologigal sites. As Greece has a very long history we visited places that are over 2000 years old!

Driving through the villages:







We visited the ruins at Dion:





















The site lies next to Mount Olympus, the seat of the Greek gods. We had an amazing view of the mountain.

From the coach:





... from the village of Dion:



on the way back, going in the sunset:

It's Chrismas time!

Let's take a tour through the house with all the Christmas decorations:





I met these little smoking men, which live in a typical German house at Xmas. And the nutcracker is also a German native:





The advent wreath - well not a real wreath, but tomorrow we will light the first candel.

Christmas Time is Cookie Time!

This week I helped baking Xmas cookies.

First we have to get all the ingredients: pecan nuts, eggs, flour, coconut...



Then we mixed all of them. We made dough for 'forgotten cookies' and 'Vanillekipferl' and 'snow balls':









Mh, let's try the dough:



Then we made little cookies on the  baking tray .... and into the oven.





20 more minutes to wait...



.... and there we are: Vanillekipferl



And the snow balls:



And the 'forgotten cookies':



Last but not least here is the longest cookie in the  world 

Well, they were supposed to be thin long matches, but.... Now we broke them into little pieces and created 'broken cookies'.

Hello mommy!

Only a short note but I think you'll like it. Today we had dinner at an American Diner!



I loved the burger and fries! Unfortunately we did not take any photos of the food and inside. But still.... I felt like home!

Unfortunately there is no snow here in Germany. It is pretty warm with over zero degrees. Not the real atmosphere for Christmas Markets with all the rain 

Still we visited two of them today. First on an old farm.
We looked at different nativity scenes that were put on exhibition.







And this is the Waltershausen Christmas Market. A small one with only a few booths where you can buy drinks and food.

I love the lights at night though!

On Tuesday my host took a day off to visit a rehearsal at Eisenach theater. I went along. Orchestra and ballet were practicing for the ROMEO AND JULIET premiere this Saturday.

We were not allowed to take pictures during performance but here is me inside the theatre:

Hello Mommy, look at this! We got snow for the first time this winter!
When I got up this morning all the roofs were a little bit white. Yet the snow will disappear again soon. It is not cold enough to stay.





This afternoon I baked a cheese cake with maple sirup and walnut.
First we got all the ingredients. It is an easy cake without baking in the oven.



Then we beat the cream and prepare the flan case:









And put the cream on the flan case - finished.





Now the cake needs to stay in the fridge for two hours.



Oh no, look at all the dirty dishes which I now have to clean....



I'll tell you later mommy how it tasted!

CU

Hello mommy!

This Wednesday we went to one of the biggest and most famous Christmas Markets in Germany, to Erfurt. The town is about 40km away from Mechterstädt.

The cathedral towers in the back are a great view!



Look at all the lights and stalls. Crowds all over the place.





It is pretty cold here now with -15°C (5°F - I guess). It has been snowing for the last days and everything is white.

Time for Christmas vacations!

My host mom has her first day off today and we took some time for postcrossing and Xmas writing.

Here is me in the middle of the huge pile of all the letters and cards we wrote today.



Off to the post office!

Snow, snow everywhere. It has been snowing for the last days and very heavily last night. As usual surprising for the Germans... trains, cars and planes stuck in the snow. The same every year.



I helped to shovel snow this morning.



And then we prepared some food for the little birds that stay here in winter. We put the bird house outside and will soon watch the birdies coming and going - hopefully.





Last I helped my host mum with the ironing. There was a huge pile to do.



Puh - finished!

Hello mommy!

Christmas Eve in Germany was so much fun.

Here is me under the Christmas tree.



Well, it is a bit bare branched, I have to admit. My host mum says her parents took it from their garden.... My host mom always decorates the tree in the morning of 24th.

In the evening everyone got their presents.
This is my host mom's pile before...



and after unwrapping:



There were calendars and cooking utensils, a lamp, a sewing basket and umbrella. I especially liked this book:



It is called 'little people in the city' and shows pictures from a tiny street art project. You can have a look at their site: little people It reminds me a little bit of us TVs!

Later on everyone was sitting together and chatting.

On the first Christmas holiday people in Germany usually have goose for lunch. In my host mom's family the always eat duck. Doesn't it look delicious?! Yummy!



We had a great meal!

After the holidays and all the food it is good to get moving!
A friend of my host asked if we could help moving furniture and equipment from his old office to a new one and so we did today!
All these boxes and stuff....



This is the new office - still a lot of work to be done!



And these copy machines are so heavy. But with the help of strong men...

Over new Year we'll be going someplace else where we will turn off all the cell phones and just enjoy the quiet and do nothing except reading. So we needed to get some books and went to the local library.



They've just reopened the place after refurbishing and reconstruction. I think it is interesting how they included the old style house front into the new main buliding.

Here I am in the main reading room:





Mh, which book shall I choose?






Dear mommy, have a happy new year and I'll update once more next week before I'll travel on.

See you!

Hello Mommy,

for new year we went to a small town near Berlin to enjoy the quiet and relax.

The town is called Trebbin, only about 10,000 inhabitants live here.

We took a stroll through the town. Here is the town hall and the main street:





As you can see there was loads of snow. It did not stop snowing for three days. We had to look hard to find the car in the morning 



We also visited an old monastery called 'Zinna'. It was founded in 1170 and used until 1553.









Here is a model of the place:





We watched an exhibition about the way the monks lived.









Today they do not only use the place as a museum but there is also a little brewery for schnaps.
I also bought one bottle, hic.



We had lots of snow on our way through the forest, but also  on the main road.





On the way back we visited a village called Grossbeeren. Here the German Army defeaded the French in 1813 before they were able to enter Berlin.
In honour of the fact this tower was built in 1913 which can be seen in the middle of the village.