Pleasant Finds

Schloss Augustusberg, Bruhl



Looking out at the Panarama



Love and Locks, Koln Bridge



The Bridge heavy of Love

 Thursday March 17:  Word of the day is: Schwestern, which is plural for Sister; because everytime I hear it, I think of Western, and want to get out a gunslinger belt and stand alongside with Clint Eastwood...Rawhide!!



Today was very crappy weather outside; wet and cold so I was in for an inside day, so I just did homework, translating of words, and so on. But I did forget to add, later on Wednesday (since I was too preoccupied on writing what I had done earlier that day), as I was making some dinner, one of my house mates, A really polite Chinese,  asked me if I wanted to go watch the nationals in Football (soccer).  So of course I said yes. But I thought he meant we were going to an actual stadium, so when we got to Bonn, I was a little confused, because we sat and watched it in this sports place with all these TVs, playing two different games (like a sports bar, but no beer, just vending machines, TVs and Chairs).  The two games were, Real Madrid vs. Lyon (won 3:0), and Chelsea vs. Copenhagen (0:0).  It was neat just to watching the game, but made me miss actually playing!



Friday March 18: Word of the day is: Teppich, which is carpet, and because it made me think of the song Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf, then of Aladdin and how much I want to watch it again.



Today was another cold and wet day L So I was in for another inside day. I was considering going to another museum, but I considered to spread it out to another day and to save my money.  I was trying to meet up with a friend living not too far from here (she lived with us on the farm for summer to ride our horses) and to go see Equitanna  Horse show in  Essen, but unfortunately the last day is Sunday and that won’t be possible to make, so thats unfortunate, because it would have been awesome to actually attend. I watched Night at the Roxbury and believe it or not, I enjoyed it!



Schloss Augustusberg with friends





Travel through Time



Saturday March 19:  I met a classmate and her daughter in Bonn in the morning and we took the train to Brühl to visit The Schloss Augustusburg, which is listed as a UNESCO cultural World Heritage Site. I had gone and taken the tour already previously 4 years before, but it seemed more beautiful than before! It was built at the beginning of the 18th century by the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria (1700–1761). Every room is so wondrously furnished and decorated it leaves in you in complete awe. Every room has murals and painting of people and scenes. The person it was made for loved hunting, especially falconry, so some rooms have that theme. We were not allowed to take pictures inside so that is of course very unfortunate. After the tour, we walked to the Bruhl Centrum and stopped for lunch. We parted as I was moving on to Koln to visit Julia. She met me at the station and as we were leaving, I was very interested to see a protest march by about the Energy issue (ie: Japan). We went on the other side of the Rhein in Koln and went up this really tall building called the Panarama, where you go to the top and sight see. It was awesome being able to see so far around. You could even see Drachenfels and The Post Tower by my school. I had been to the top of the Koln Dom four years back, so it was nice to see the Dom itself from up top. After that, we walked across the Koln bridge and there was a very intriguing sight. Along the whole bridge are thousands of locks. Each one is unique with couples’ names and messages on them. People do this, to profess their love, lock the lock onto the railing then throw the key into the Rhein. Some are simple while others are wonderfully decorated, small or very big. We walked along the Rhein which was very nice because all the people were out, including kids doing tricks with Roller Blades and soon to be brides trying to give out gifts to the people on the streets (a German tradition apparently).  Julia asked if I liked Sushi; hell yes I do!  So we met her co-worker at this lovely all-you-can eat sushi restaurant! MMMMM! She took me to a cool place called the Underground, she used to hang out and excitingly, there was a sort of battle of the bands going on, so we got to see some live performances! 



Sunday March 20:  I came back in good time from Koln because I wanted to hit the Flea Market in Bad Godesberg! And boy was it heaven! I was in awe! It’s endless, and apparently this is one of the smallest ones (they’re starting every month now). The stands were endless, with so many antiques and treasures; old clocks, china, tin boxes, cloths, shoes, jewellery, books etc! It was actually a huge tease because there were so many wonderful antiques I would have loved to bought but of course do not have the money and room to buy. But I did buy some records; Eric Burdon: Fire Dept., Santana: Moonflower, Steve Miller Band: Fly Like An Eagle, Pink Floyd: The Wall, and this sweet lookin’ yellow vinyl called DJ Pascal Dolle. But then I was in for a huge surprise! I biked over to Elke’s and I run into her neighbour and I mention that I had just bought some records. Well she says she has a bunch that she has no use for and asks if I would like them! So I come over, and what a collection and she gives them all to me! So I’ve just inherited 80 records, and good ones to!!! We’ve got: lots of Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder, haa both Pink Floyd The Wall and Wish You Were Here, a bunch of Supertramp, a whole lotta Yes, Genesis, The Police, Fleetwood Mac, T-Rex, Electric Light Orchestra, Deep Purple, Cat Stevens, Leonard Cohan, the list and the beat goes on! The issue now is well transportation back to home....well thankfully I have the ability with the Wolters because they go back and forth to Canada and Germany so hopefully we can work something out :P I’m gonna have to have a specific room dedicated to my collection for sure now!

Monday March 21: Word(s) of the day are: Flohmarkt und kaufen, which mean Flea Market and to buy, words which we covered and dedicated to the previous day.



Today was a nice sunny day again! I love it when the sun beats down it feels like its burning your jeans! I decided to spend the afternoon outside in the back yard at the house doing homework then after did some grocery shopping. Sweet a head of lettuce lasted me like two weeks even though I was using it like every day with a meal! So far, I’ve been surprised; I come out with a heavy bag full for like $10, seems definitely reasonable.



Artwork is Everything