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16 April

Ostermontag

I've highlighted here where Anne's Parents live.  We pretty much traveled around the whole peninsula this weekend.

If you can see Tossens on this map (Lower left red dot), that's where Anne's parents' house is.
Center Left and Center Right: This is Butjadigen and the nothern German islands from the other direction.  I didn't even know that there were islands north of Germany. 
Right: Butjadigen at night from a satellite

While we were up on the coast, we went to a museum at the Fedderwarder Siel.  That doesn't really translate very well, but the fedderwarder Siel is a lock in the dyke where they can control how much water is coming in and out.

This talks a bit about the old Germanic gods and the history of the old written language.  The alphabet of the old language is known as Runes.

Can you be a seafarer?  Better be able to tie these knots first!

Ships in the harbor at the Fedderwardersiel.

I liked this sign that was hanging in the museum.  "If you still have your mother, thank God and be content."

Welcome to Oldenburg!  This was my bike lock...now it's a nice memory of Kurt's buddy's bike.  The bike was stolen sometime between Saturday 4:00 AM, and Saturday night at 10:00 PM.  I have since gotten a great deal at the UniFahrradSelbstHilfe... the do-it-yourself shop at the University center/student union.  If you are coming to Oldenburg, you will need a bike, and the best deals I've heard of so far have been to get a bike from the SelbstHilfe at the student union.  There's a deal for exchange students where you can get a bike for 25 marks for 3 months, but you have to be persistent about asking for it, otherwise, they will charge you 20 marks/month or possibly more (which is still only about $10.00/month at present).  If you want to buy a bike, there are lots of places to do that as well, but it's probably better to rent one if you're only going to be here for a short time.  And you will want a decent lock too, because from what I've heard (and now experienced), stealing bikes here is not that uncommon. 

For my bike lock, I went to Kaufhof down in the Innenstadt.  I had found one for 50 marks (about $22.00, but I didn't really want to spend that on a bike lock.  As I was turning around to take the 50 Mark lock up to the register, I found a reduziert (reduced price) table, and found basically the same lock for 10 Marks.  So I went ahead and bought the 10 Mark one.  I found out why it was reduced...the lock stuck.  I would put the key in, but it wouldn't turn, or I would get the key in and turned, and then not be able to get it back out...  So I was able to borrow some oil from Piotr (Polish guy living on the first floor--his picture is elsewhere on this site), and now the lock works great.

Persistent and Patient.  Two important words for me in Germany.

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