It was a family weekend. Dave's parents arrived in England and will stay for 4 weeks. They plan on touring England during the week and going on trips with us on the weekends. So be prepared to read from England short-trips from me during the next blogs.
Our first trip let us to Ely. As most English towns the main attraction there is the cathedral. And this is exactly what we visited first. You want to learn a little bit about the history? Okay, I try to give a short overview:
It all started with the Saxon princess Etheldreda, who was born AD630 near Newmarket (not too far away from Ely). She knew that God wanted her to live a religeous life. For political reasons she had to marry twice, but during the whole time she maintained her virginity! Her second husband gave her Ely Island (an island in the Fenns) as a gift. The same husband eventually released her from the wedding vow and she moved to Ely island and in 673 she founded a monastery for monks and nuns. This monastery was built at the spot of the current cathedral and Etheldreda became the first Abbess there.
She died on June 23, 673 from a throat tumour. When the tomb was opened in 695 her body was found well preserved and the tumour healed.
After 200 years the monastery was destroyed by the Danes and refounded as a Benedictine community in 970.
Work on the current building started in the 11th century and the in 1109 the church became a cathedral. In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the monastery and Etheldreda's shrine was destroyed. So were a lot of carvings and stainless glass. In 1541 the cathedral was refounded as the King's School.
Enough information? I hope you got some ideas about the long history. After visiting the cathedral we walked around Ely. As so often we tried (and finally managed) to find a geocache that showed us many interesting places around town.
Enjoy some more pictures on flickr (as always).
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Snow
No, the weather is not going that crazy. But I thought "Snow" is a good title for this entry following the sun and rain. And actually I had some snow this week. On Wednesday evening I was skiing. Yes, you read right. We can go skiing around the year.... we have an indoor skiing slope. You might think something like this only exists in Japan, but we have two of them not too far away from my house. The one we went to is the longer one. It is still a very quick run and a long time waiting to get uphill again, but with some friends it is fun. Barbara, Eva, Marcus and me tried it last Wednesday. Since Thursday was a day off many people left for a long weekend. So we found ourselves at the skiing place with approximately 20 more persons. It was really empty and a lot of fun. You pay 19,90 Euros for an evening ticket and this includes dinner and all soft drinks.
The danger sign was new. It is anything else than dangerous. The run is a very easy one and if you are not fast enough you have to walk up a little hill to get to the lift again.
The temperature is around freezing, maybe 30F. It is a special fun to go there in the middle of summer, wearing skiing pants, gloves, hats and sweaters with you while others walk in shorts and shirts.
I told you yesterday was a day off in Germany. Marcus, Eva and I decided to go for our first scuba dive this year. Diving after skiing. Fun. After loading all diving stuff into the car and even find a place for Senta to join us we managed to be on the road to the Netherlands by 13:00. The lake close to Nijmwegen is an one hour drive away. The weather was not too bad, at least dry in Essen, and when we arrived the sun came out. The water temperature was 15C in 6m depths, which was surprisingly warm. Nevertheless we put all neoprene that we have on.
The dive itself was fun. We saw some freshwater crabs and a very huge pike. Diving in a lake usually is not very exciting. Most of the times the visibility is very poor and even if you see some fish they are not colorful. But diving is all about experience so we try to do this even here in our lakes as often as possible. If it is not too hot we take Senta with us. She loves playing in the water when we are done diving.
After diving Marcus get rid of remaining water from the BCD.
Now it is time to pack all the wet stuff into the boxes and find a way to bring it home. Diving needs a lot of equipment.
After we had fun it was playtime for Senta. She enjoyed it, especially since we were the only ones there. The only problem is: she was too wet to drive in on the back seat of the car with us.
No we didn't leave her there and she didn't have to run home, we used a towel. Cute!!!
That was my week, well, the fun part of my week. Of course I had to work and did some routine things, but who wants to read about this.
Take care!
The danger sign was new. It is anything else than dangerous. The run is a very easy one and if you are not fast enough you have to walk up a little hill to get to the lift again.
The temperature is around freezing, maybe 30F. It is a special fun to go there in the middle of summer, wearing skiing pants, gloves, hats and sweaters with you while others walk in shorts and shirts.
I told you yesterday was a day off in Germany. Marcus, Eva and I decided to go for our first scuba dive this year. Diving after skiing. Fun. After loading all diving stuff into the car and even find a place for Senta to join us we managed to be on the road to the Netherlands by 13:00. The lake close to Nijmwegen is an one hour drive away. The weather was not too bad, at least dry in Essen, and when we arrived the sun came out. The water temperature was 15C in 6m depths, which was surprisingly warm. Nevertheless we put all neoprene that we have on.
The dive itself was fun. We saw some freshwater crabs and a very huge pike. Diving in a lake usually is not very exciting. Most of the times the visibility is very poor and even if you see some fish they are not colorful. But diving is all about experience so we try to do this even here in our lakes as often as possible. If it is not too hot we take Senta with us. She loves playing in the water when we are done diving.
After diving Marcus get rid of remaining water from the BCD.
Now it is time to pack all the wet stuff into the boxes and find a way to bring it home. Diving needs a lot of equipment.
After we had fun it was playtime for Senta. She enjoyed it, especially since we were the only ones there. The only problem is: she was too wet to drive in on the back seat of the car with us.No we didn't leave her there and she didn't have to run home, we used a towel. Cute!!!
That was my week, well, the fun part of my week. Of course I had to work and did some routine things, but who wants to read about this.
Take care!
Friday, May 11, 2007
It's raining again
Did I say it is nice and sunny the last time? Well, now I can't complain about too dry weather: It is raining again. It started maybe a week ago and it already feels like it rained forever. The local farmers are very happy about it and I was too...for a day or two. But this is something I can't change. So lets review the last week commuting between England and Germany.
The last weekend in Thetford was a busy one. Dave's parents will come and visit next Thursday and we arranged one bedroom for them. You would think this is easy, but most rooms in our house in Thetford are just not big enough for two beds. But somehow it worked out. And I even convinces Dave to get rid of some old clothes. He thought the t-shirts he wore at college were still good, but honestly, this is some time ago and I completely disagreed with him. I wouldn't care if it was not for needed space.
We finished working some time during the afternoon and took Amber for a walk. The day started out being cloudy and grey, but the afternoon was sunny. We went to the old ruins of Thetford Priory. It is a nice place to play with the dog and in addition a new geocache was just recently placed there and we had to find it.
We also explored a Pizza Express restaurant in Bury St. Edmund. It sounds like a chain restaurant, but I doubt it. Actually it was a nice Italian one. The only problem was we had to change our order at least three times. Whenever we placed it the waiter came back to our table and informed us about a change in the menu taking place next week and that therefore they ran out of this and that. We enjoyed it anyhow.
Sunday was short as ever and I flew back home to Germany. This is also when it started raining. Some heavy winds caused a lid on my chimney hanging down and banging against something the whole night. It was annoying. But I found a roofer taking care of it.... for "only" 165 Euros!!!! But there was absolutely no chance for me climbing on the roof and fix it by myself.
Did I complain about the weather? Well, there is one really good thing about it: I have an excuse for not cutting my hedge or doing any other work in the yard. The disadvantage is: it doesn't look very nice right now. But I guess I can live with that. And the forecast for next week is... more rain. It will be very relaxing.
Not very much to say or write. Make sure you check my flickr page for some new photos. And I would like to read comments on them ;o) And if you also have some pictures to share: Flickr is a great place for doing it! I would be more than glad to add you as my new contact there.
Have a great week and a very good mother's day to all the mothers of you.
The last weekend in Thetford was a busy one. Dave's parents will come and visit next Thursday and we arranged one bedroom for them. You would think this is easy, but most rooms in our house in Thetford are just not big enough for two beds. But somehow it worked out. And I even convinces Dave to get rid of some old clothes. He thought the t-shirts he wore at college were still good, but honestly, this is some time ago and I completely disagreed with him. I wouldn't care if it was not for needed space.
We finished working some time during the afternoon and took Amber for a walk. The day started out being cloudy and grey, but the afternoon was sunny. We went to the old ruins of Thetford Priory. It is a nice place to play with the dog and in addition a new geocache was just recently placed there and we had to find it.
We also explored a Pizza Express restaurant in Bury St. Edmund. It sounds like a chain restaurant, but I doubt it. Actually it was a nice Italian one. The only problem was we had to change our order at least three times. Whenever we placed it the waiter came back to our table and informed us about a change in the menu taking place next week and that therefore they ran out of this and that. We enjoyed it anyhow.
Sunday was short as ever and I flew back home to Germany. This is also when it started raining. Some heavy winds caused a lid on my chimney hanging down and banging against something the whole night. It was annoying. But I found a roofer taking care of it.... for "only" 165 Euros!!!! But there was absolutely no chance for me climbing on the roof and fix it by myself.
Did I complain about the weather? Well, there is one really good thing about it: I have an excuse for not cutting my hedge or doing any other work in the yard. The disadvantage is: it doesn't look very nice right now. But I guess I can live with that. And the forecast for next week is... more rain. It will be very relaxing.
Not very much to say or write. Make sure you check my flickr page for some new photos. And I would like to read comments on them ;o) And if you also have some pictures to share: Flickr is a great place for doing it! I would be more than glad to add you as my new contact there.
Have a great week and a very good mother's day to all the mothers of you.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Enjoying summer in May
It is warm, it is dry, it is ... May.
Yes, summer is still here. The only thing that changes is the temperature. Some days it is really hot with 30C during the day and 18C during the night. On others the day time temperatures reach 25C and the night time temperature drops to 9C. What all the days during the last 3 or more weeks have in common is the blue sky and sunshine. The local farmers are already complaining about the dry April. And they predict very high prices. On the other hand this expanded the asparagus season. The white asparagus can be harvested from maybe May until June 21st. This year the season started in April and I already had my first Germany asparagus.
The other thing I wonder is: why does everything growing on the fields die (same with all plants I planted) while all the weeds will grow and grow and grow? Any answer to that?
May and June in Germany have a lot of holidays on Thursdays. With the 1st of May (our labor day) on a Tuesday that gives a lot of opportunities for long weekends. So was the last one.
One of my friends here in Germany had a birthday party last Saturday and therefore I decided to fly to England on Sunday morning and stay until Tuesday afternoon. That also gave me a very relaxed Saturday. After sleeping in I decided to take my inline skates and drive to the river Rhine in Wesel. This is my favorite place for skating. It is not a round trip, but even so I enjoy going one direction, having a break and going back the same way. Here are some impressions of the area:
Also back to England on Sunday I worked a little bit in the back yard. I planted some flowers and we bought a table and umbrella (as sun protection). And even if it is just a small yard it is good to have some green.
Now I am back to Germany before I will fly to England again tomorrow. Could it be that all my flights cause this unusually dry and warm weather? Here in Germany the CO2 reduction and the climate change is one of the biggest topics during the last weeks. We have one political party who wants to allow a flight to Mallorca (a very popular Spanish island) only every 5 years....
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think we have to act now and I try to do my best (turning off the computer when not needed, avoid using the car whenever possible which also gives me some exercise, etc.) but I really don't want to abandon the weekends in England. One day....
Yes, summer is still here. The only thing that changes is the temperature. Some days it is really hot with 30C during the day and 18C during the night. On others the day time temperatures reach 25C and the night time temperature drops to 9C. What all the days during the last 3 or more weeks have in common is the blue sky and sunshine. The local farmers are already complaining about the dry April. And they predict very high prices. On the other hand this expanded the asparagus season. The white asparagus can be harvested from maybe May until June 21st. This year the season started in April and I already had my first Germany asparagus.
The other thing I wonder is: why does everything growing on the fields die (same with all plants I planted) while all the weeds will grow and grow and grow? Any answer to that?
May and June in Germany have a lot of holidays on Thursdays. With the 1st of May (our labor day) on a Tuesday that gives a lot of opportunities for long weekends. So was the last one.
One of my friends here in Germany had a birthday party last Saturday and therefore I decided to fly to England on Sunday morning and stay until Tuesday afternoon. That also gave me a very relaxed Saturday. After sleeping in I decided to take my inline skates and drive to the river Rhine in Wesel. This is my favorite place for skating. It is not a round trip, but even so I enjoy going one direction, having a break and going back the same way. Here are some impressions of the area:
Also back to England on Sunday I worked a little bit in the back yard. I planted some flowers and we bought a table and umbrella (as sun protection). And even if it is just a small yard it is good to have some green.
Now I am back to Germany before I will fly to England again tomorrow. Could it be that all my flights cause this unusually dry and warm weather? Here in Germany the CO2 reduction and the climate change is one of the biggest topics during the last weeks. We have one political party who wants to allow a flight to Mallorca (a very popular Spanish island) only every 5 years....
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think we have to act now and I try to do my best (turning off the computer when not needed, avoid using the car whenever possible which also gives me some exercise, etc.) but I really don't want to abandon the weekends in England. One day....
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