Welcome to Oslo

Dear friends,

The last part of our trip has arrived... Last but certainly not least we have visited Oslo. The capital and most populous city in Norway was established on 1 January 1838. It was founded around 1048, but the city was largely destroyed by a fire in 1624. Then it was rebuilt and named "Christiania". In 1925 the city reclaimed its original Norwegian name, Oslo.

Oslo is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers.

Bygdøy

Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city core, as well as outside it. We have visited one: Bygdøy. Bygdøy is a huge and green area, known also as "Museum Peninsula" of Oslo. The beautiful location, surrounded by the sea, makes it the most expensive Norwegian district. What a place to live, I was dreaming immediately.

Oslo Pas

Oslo has the world's most extensive metro, including the six-line Oslo Tramway and the eight-line Oslo Commuter Rail. The tramway operates within the areas close to the city center, while the metro, which runs underground through the city center, operates to suburbs further away. We found it was rather expensive to buy tickets for any kind of transport in Norway. Luckily we discovered tha "Oslo Pass". The Oslo Pass provides "free" travel on public transport ans "free" admission to museums and sights. With free I mean you have to pay a fixed price for it, afterwords you can use it as much as you like, for a limited time of course. (Source: http://www.visitoslo.com/en/?cat=49104&page=5)

We were looking forward to experience the Eurosongfestival here in Norway, but unfortunately  the Norwegian entry did not make it to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Stella Mwangi and her song "Haba haba" failed to reach the top ten in the First Semifinal in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. :( Too bad. But I must admit, I don't like the song either. (Want to listen to it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0yoSRD83ks)

Stella Mwangi, the Norwegian entry for Eurosong

Within a few days we will be back in Belgium. It think it will be with mixed feelings, because I missed you all very much, but on the other hand I have had such a great time. I will never forget this trip and I recommend to everyone to do something like our trip likewise.

See you soon
xxxxxxx
Marlies

Ps: to mom & dad: I hope you are preparing a welcoming party? ;)

The last week of our trip!

Dear friends

This is the last week of our trip, so we’re almost meeting again! As Leen and Lieze already wrote, this trip is amazing, but we will also be glad to arrive back home!

Monday 16 May

We still have our rented car, so today we drove off to Lillehammer. That’s the capital of the county Oppland, on the banks of the Mjøsa lake, in the East of Norway. Lillehammer has about 25.000 inhabitants.
It was about 5h driving, so we left early in the morning, around 7 o’clock. We arrived around 12 o’clock, so it was eating time!

After our lunch, we went to the tourism office, to get some information about the city and some maps to find our way. I have been here before, but it’s already 4 years ago, so I don’t remember everything. I visited Lillehammer in February, so everything was covered with a white carpet of snow. That’s a completely different view, I didn’t recognize it at all!

After that, we went to our hostel to install us for the last week. We also took a break, because we were tired of the long car trip. In the afternoon, we went to a shop, to buy some drinks and food, to make our own diner at the hostel. We have met three boys of the UK, who are discovering Norway for one month, so they had already seen a lot. They told us where to go and what to visit. After this long talk, we all went to bed.

Ciaaooo ! X

Tuesday 17 May

In 1994, the Olympic Winter Games found place in Lillehammer, so the boys said that we absolutely should see the ‘Norwegian Olympic Museum’. It’s the only museum in Northern-Europe that shows the complete history of the Olympic Games. It all begins from 776 before Christ in the old Greece, until today. It’s the greatest and the most important sports museum in Norway. In total, there are more than 7000 Olympic items to admire!

So this morning, we went to the museum! And indeed, it’s so amazing! I’m glad we visited the museum, for only €5 !

This is the Ski Jump

This is a bobsleigh track

This afternoon we go to Lysgårdsbakkene, the Olympic Ski Jump. I have been there before and really, that view all over Lillehammer, is breath-taking! It’s so high! You can go upstairs with the stairs of 954 steps, or you can choose the chairlift. Of course, we took the stairs J
It’s the most popular place to take pictures and there, they also sell some souvenirs.

Well, this day was passing very fast, so it’s time to go back to the hostel and relax!

See ya tomorrow ! X

Wednesday 18 May

This is the last blog I will post! Then you’ll see me back, guys!

Today was a beautiful day! It was 20 degrees, so we went to the Mjøsa lake. There were plenty of people, just relaxing and sunbathing. We took our picnic with us, because we planned to stay over there for the whole day. We read some books, listened to the music, laughed a lot and enjoyed the sun! I had to be careful with the sun, otherwise I had to go back home like a tomato. J

Tonight, there is a huge BBQ planned at the hostel, together with all the people that are traveling around. So, we have to be on time! The other girls are preparing themselves, so I think I should better do that too.

I can’t wait to see you sweeties!
Still three days!

Lots of love, Charlotte x

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhenp4Szf3U : here you can see a glimpse of the Games!

Amazing Norway!

Friday 13 May 2011

Hi everybody!

We are still continuing our trip but the end is really nearby! We are in Norway, the final country of our trip and next week is already the final one. The feeling is a bit mixed… I am really enjoying this trip and I’m having the time of our life but I’m really, really, really missing home right now! Fortunately, we’re so busy visiting things and discovering different cultures so I don’t think about home all the time.

Today we arrived at Geirangerfjord, a breath-taking fjord on the west coast of Norway. Everywhere you look you see majestic snow covered mountain peaks, there are beautiful waterfalls and the deep blue waters of the fjord are magnificent! In the morning, we made a walk of six hours, all the way to the top of the Dalsnibba, which is 1500 metres high! The track wasn’t easy but all trails are marked and we had a very good map (so no, mum and dad, we didn’t get lost somewhere in the mountains). We passed several waterfalls and believe me, when you’re standing next to them, you feel soooooo small! (And the noice of the splashing water is deafening!)

Aferwards, we went to the Norwegian Fjord Centre, which is only one kilometer from the centre of the village. It’s a gallery about the history of mountains, the fjords and the local people. We also saw a short video about the evolution from mountains to fjords and I immediately felt like I was in secondary school again, in the geography lessons!

For dinner, we went to the Westerås restaurant. It’s a very little restaurant but it has the most spectacular view of the fjord!

Talk to you soon!

Lieze

Saturday 14 May 2011

Today we travelled further to Alesund, a fishing village which has the most important fishing harbour of Norway. 

We visited the Atlanterhavsparken (or just “The Atlantic Sea park”), a very large saltwater aquarium. The park has a surface of 10,000m² so it’s absolutely impossible to see everything. We decided to go first to the saltwater tank, where the fish are fed by divers. Afterwards, we went to a smaller aquarium where we could touch the fish!

In the afternoon, we made a short boat trip and this was the perfect way to discover the whole village. The guide on the boat told us that the village was destroyed by a huge fire in 1900, but it has been rebuilt in a beautiful way.

We spent the rest of the day at the pier, enjoying the beautiful weather and the magnificent vieuw.

Lieze

Sunday 15 May 2011

Hi!

Our first week in Norway has already passed but we have already seen the most beautiful curiosities. Just like today. We went to the archbishop’s palace in Trondheim, which is now a major museum complex. You can still see the archbishop’s workshop, exactly as archaeologists found it. There’s even a chapel at the palace which was open for visitors. We took advantage of this opportunity and we went inside. It was really stunning!

We finished this day by visiting the Nidarosdom. This cathedral is the most sanctuary of Norway so it’s logical that this is a very touristic building. When we arrived, the place was crowded! We didn’t manage to enter into the cathedral, but it’s such a huge building so we could admire the architecture from a distance.

So today was a bit more relaxing but we still had a great time, as alwaysJ

See you soon,

Lieze

Norway: Land of the midnight sun

Hello darlings! ‘Finally’ these are our two last weeks of the trip. Although I am happy to go home and see you all back, I certainly will miss travelling with the girls.

These last weeks we are spending in Norway. This country is different from most other European countries because of the light. During the summer months it does not get dark at night, because then there is a natural phenomenon called the midnight sun. This means that the sun does not set during these months. The duration of the midnight sun depends on how far north you are. At the Arctic Circle, you can see it from 12 June to 1 July, at the North Cape in Finnmark you can see the sun from 14 May to 29 July and at the North Pole the sun does not set for six months.

 

From Monday until Thursday we are going to visit: Stavanger, Skien, Halden and the capital Oslo.

As usual we will post each day a message on our blog.

Kiss!

Monday 9 may 2011: visiting Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and community located in Rogaland county, on a peninsula on the southwest coast of Norway. The climate is maritime mild temperate and rather windy. Winters are cold with temperature averages above freezing but summers are quite pleasant with average high temperatures of 18 °C.

In the second half of the 20^th century, after oil was discovered in the North Sea, Stavanger became one of the most influential and important Norwegian cities. Therefore the city is commonly referred to as the Petroleum Capital. Furthermore is Stavanger the metropolitan area and the administrative centre of Rogaland.

Norway is definitely the place for people who enjoy an active outdoor life, with many places to go and a wide choice of sports. That is one of the reasons why we went climbing with the Norwegian Trekking Association, (in Norwegian: Den Norkse Turistforetning (DNT)). Another reason why we did this was because climbing is the best way to see the fantastic landscape around Stavanger. DNT’s motto is: Nature experiences for life (in Norwegian: “Naturopplevelser for livet”) and I must admit that this is true. In entire my life I have not seen such a breathtaking landscape!

After a whole day climbing, we are very tired and now we are going straight to bed!

Sleep tight and cya tomorrow! –xx-

Tuesday 10 may 2011: visiting Skien

Skien is a city and municipality in Telemark county and is considered to be the seventh largest city in Norway.

This city has three shopping malls, namely:

·         Handelsbyen Herkules (110 stores and services)

·         Arkaden Skien Storsenter (47 stores and services)

·         Lietorvet Senter (28 stores and services)

Logically we went shopping and we bought some presents for you all but I am not going to tell what it is. It has to be a surprise.

Besides shopping we also enlarged our cultural knowledge by visiting the Telemark Museum. It is located in Kleiva, the older part of Skien and was founded in 1909. The farm is part of a large park called “Brekkeparken”.

The main attraction, aside from seasonal exhibits in the main halls of the farm house, is the outdoor museum. Several older houses and farms from Telemark county have been moved from their original location and rebuilt in the park.

It was a quite interesting day but the best part of today was of course going to the shopping malls.

Now we are going to town to have a drink in a bar and probably dance the night away.

Nigthie Night! –xx-

Wednesday 11 may 2011: visiting Halden

Halden is a town and a municipality in Østfold county. The seat of Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, which is the most southern border crossing between Norway and Sweden.

The city is surrounded by forests and water, so hiking and fishing locations can easily be found. Fruit like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, wild cranberries but also many varieties of mushroom can be found in the woods in the early autumn. Unfortunately we were here too early to find them, because I really like eating fruit.

Interesting sights in Halden are the canal system, Høiåsmasten and Svinesund bridges.

Høiåsmasten

Høiåsmasten is a TV tower used for FM- and TV-transmission built in 1980. It is one of the tallest, partially guyed, towers in the world and with a height of 320 metres it is the second highest of Norway.

Svinesund is a seaway separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad from Halden. The Swedish side is extremely popular with Norwegians who buy relatively cheap goods over there, because a large shopping area can be found immediately after crossing one of the two toll bridges. Due to the fact that Norway is not in the EU there are much stricter restrictions on the amount of goods, like alcohol, cigarettes, food, … that can be taken across the border.

We rent a car and drove to the bridge and after taking some pictures, we crossed the seaway to go the shopping area in Sweden. There we had lunch and bought some souvenirs. Afterwards we drove back to Norway to enjoy the rest of the day in downtown Halden.

Svinesund bridge

Thursday 12 may 2011: visiting the capital Oslo

Between the Oslo Fjord and the green hills of Oslomarka lies the Norwegian capital Oslo. The combination of city life and easy access to outdoor activities makes the most populous city of the country a unique destination.

Oslo has a humid continental climate and because of the city's northern latitude, daylight varies enormously: from more than 18 hours in midsummer to approximately 6 hours in midwinter. Because of the Gulf Stream the climate is relatively mild throughout the year. Although the city has pleasantly mild to warm summers with average high temperatures of 20–22 °C, heat waves are common during the summer. The highest temperature ever in Oslo was 35° C. Average low temperatures are around 12 C.

Due to the fjords, the water temperatures can get quite high during long warm periods. During the summer of 2008, the water reached a temperature of 24 C.

Winters are cold and snowy with temperatures between −7 Cup to −1 C. The coldest temperature recorded is −27.1 C in January 1942. Snowfall can occur from November to April but mainly it snows from January through March.

Today we had quite good weather and went to TusenFryd Amusement Park. Here you find attractions for all ages, as well as fun games, great shops and many places to eat. This amusement park features dozens of spectacular rides, including SpinSpider, SpeedMonster, SuperSplash, Nightmare, and ThunderCoaster. The park also features Barnas Fryd, an area especially made for the youngest children. In summer, guests can enjoy BadeFryd, a waterpark with a swimming pool, a swimming river, a triple slide and beach volleyball.

Although I had to overcome my fear of over heels rides, it was a fantastic day. We laughed the lungs out of our body and had the time of our life. It seemed like we were kids again and that felt good.

These four days have been great and we are looking forward to the next 10 days.

C ya 2 morrow ! –xx-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiH4BFTELME this is a link to youtube where you can see the winner of the Eurovision Contest 2009.

Denmark it is!

Hello my friends!

This morning, we arrived in a new part of our trip, namely Denmark! In three weeks, we go back home! So we have to enjoy our last visiting countries, don’t you think ;-) !

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It’s on the southwest of Sweden and on the south of Norway. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. It has a population of more than 5,5 million people and a surface of 43,000 km².

When we arrived, the first thing we had to do was changing our money, because here in Denmark, they don’t even know the Euro, so we still have to pay in Danish krone (DKK). They also speak Danish, and none of us can speak that language, so we hope they will understand our English!

As Marlies told, the first city we visited was Aarhus, so now it’s time to go the capital and also the largest city of Denmark, Copenhagen!
The average temperature is Denmark is about 8.6°C, the highest monthly average high temperature is 22°C in July and the lowest monthly average low temperature is -3°C in February.

As we intended to go shopping in Denmark, we immediately asked the way to the largest shopping street, namely Strøget. Some residents told us, that we could find there some posh brands, like Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton but also the Danish brands such as Bruuns Bazar, By Marlene Biger and Mads Nørgaard. Of course, we don’t have enough money to buy something of these brands, so we had to look after something a bit less pricy. A friendly woman told us to search for Vesterbro and Nørrebro. That’s where many upcoming designers sell their clothes. We were looking forward to discover some of these new brands!

After shopping the whole afternoon, we were very tired, so we went back to the hotel to eat something and then go to bed, because tomorrow, there’s another day! J

Today it’s our second day in Denmark and we bought a booklet about Copenhagen. Now we can find all the tourist places and things to do and to visit. So, the first thing we visited was “The King’s Gardens”. We read that Copenhagen has many parks and gardens that are perfect places to relax, sunbathe or have a picnic. This park is a popular spot for Copenhageners and during the summer their puppet theatre is a hit with the children.
Although, Fælledparken is Copenhagen’s largest park. Throughout summer, the park hosts several free events, so we’re actually a little bit too early.

The three most famous attractions in the city are:

The more than 100 year old amusement park Tivoli:

This park is way too big to visit for one day! To me, it seems like ‘Disneyland Paris’, so it’s rather huge!

The statue of The Little Mermaid:

We watched this statue, but of course, there’s not so much to see. It took us 5 minutes to take a picture and that was it.
So we left for The Freetown of Christiania:

It was a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of about 850 residents, covering 34 hectares. Civic authorities  in Copenhagen regard Christiania as a large commune, but the area has a unique status in that it is regulated by a special law, the Christiania Law of 1989. It was closed by residents in April 2011, whilst discussions continue with the Danish government as to its future, but is now open again.

Copenhagen has to offer a world of wellness, like seaside hotels, spa stays, yoga, facials, massages and much more..  So we couldn’t left before having had a massage.
We planned our last day to visit a wellness-beauty farm.

O My God! That was soooo amazing! Really! I felt like new when I left the institute! J  

Now it’s time to move on!
Jihaaa! NORWAY, here we come!

Miss you guys!
Hear you soon, Charlotte xx

The D from Denmark!

Hi guys,

Last week I visited a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe, called Denmark. It is a peninsular north of Germany.

The first city we visited was Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark. The name originates from the city's location around the mouth of the stream Aarhus Å, Å being the Danish word for a small river. The city lies roughly at the geographical centre of Denmark.

 

We visited the Aarhus cathedral, the largest cathedral in Denmark and the second largest in all of northern Europe, only surpassed by the Trondheim Cathedral, by 1.5 m. We also visited the Aarhus university, one of the largest and oldest universities in Denmark.

For lunch, we had some Danish specialities, such as smørrebrød (a Danish sandwich), traditionally served for the mid-day meal, followed by a Rødgrød. The preparation of a Rødgrød is basically that of a pudding: The fruits are cooked briefly with sugar.The essential ingredients  are red summer berries such as redcurrant, blackcurrant, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries,....

During the first evening we have spent the night out in a kind of pub where they had all kind of beers. We had drunk several beers and had a lot of fun, until we received the bill. As it was over 6 euros for one "special" beer, we had to pay 42 euros! Fortunately we had met some guys that night who saw our faces when we received the bill. They paid for it ;)

The 3 of us were very suprised to find out that Denmark is the home from "Lego"! (you know, the colorful interlocking plastic bricks for kids) Did you guys knew that? We have visited the theme park, called Lego Land in Billund. The Park is located next to the original LEGO factory and Denmark's second busiest airport Billund Airport. It was the first Leg oLand every built. The Lego Land parks that have since been built are modelled upon the one in Billund, most noticeably the Miniland area, which serves as the heart of the park.

So, that was it again... Soon I'll be back home! I'm looking forward to it, because I miss my friends and I miss the great belgian kitchen :(     It's been ages since I have eaten some descent french fries!

A lot of Kisses,

Marlies

Last three days in Germany (by Leen)

Hello darlings! The next couple of days we are going to visit cities in northern region of Germany. But first of all I am going to share some general information, history, culture, … with you.

Friday 29 April 2011: visiting Berlin

Berlin, located in north-eastern Germany, is the capital and also the largest city of the country. The city is one of the sixteen states and has a population of 3.4 million people. Approximately one third of the city's territory consists of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.

Berlin has a temperate climate, which means that changes between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate. Summers are warm with average high temperatures of 22–
25 °C and lows of 12–14 °C. Winters are cold with average high temperatures of 4 °C and lows of -2 to 0 °C. Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild.

Now I am going to tell you something about Berlin’s history to refresh the worst things that happened.

On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community. The Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) was a series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9 and 10 November 1938. After that night thousands of German Jews were put behind bars in the nearby “Sachsenhausen concentration camp” and in early 1943, they were transported to death camps, such as Auschwitz in Poland.

During the Second World War, large parts of Berlin were destroyed. At the end of the War, victorious powers divided the city into four sectors. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin. The tensions between East and West culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall between on 13 August 1961. The Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) that completely cut off West Berlin. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially said that it was built to prevent the "will of the people". However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that characterized Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post–World War II period.

In 1989, a radical series of political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc and after several weeks of civil unrest, the government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. An euphoric public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

I guess that’s enough history about Berlin, so now I am going to describe our day. Today we visited the Brandenburg Gate, “Under the linden trees”, the Reichstag building and Charlottenburg Palace.

The Brandenburg Gate ( : “Brandenburger Tor”) is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. The Gate is located west of the city center and is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building, which we visited too. The Brandenburg Gate is the monumental entry to “Under the linden trees” (in German: “Unter den Linden”), the renowned boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs.

The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage. At the very top of the building there is standing the large glass “Reichstag Dome”. The dome has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from the cupola and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor. Construction work was finished in 1999 and the seat of parliament was transferred in April of that year. The dome is open for visitors but the waiting queues can be very long, especially in summertime. So luckily we hadn’t had to wait long.

At the end of the day, before we went to our hotel to have dinner and get ready for a party in town, we went to Charlottenburg Palace.

Charlottenburg Palace (in German: “Schloss Charlottenburg”) is the largest palace in Berlin and was built at the end of the 17^th century. During the 18^th century the palace was greatly expanded. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was constructed behind the palace. In its grounds there are various buildings, such as a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. To the south of the palace there are two more museums, the “Bröhan Museum”, which contains art nouveau and art deco articles, and the “Berggruen Museum”, which houses modern art, in particular works by Picasso and Klee.

Now let’s party & goodnight for you!!

-xx-

Saturday 30 April 2011: visiting Hamburg

Hamburg, situated in Northern Germany, is the second-largest city in the country and the eighth-largest city in the European Union. The city’s official name is the “Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg” (in German: “Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg”). The port of Hamburg is the third-largest port in Europe, after the Port of Antwerp and Rotterdam. It is also the eighth largest in the world. The harbour is located 110 kilometres from the mouth of the Elbe into the North Sea. Although the port is situated so far from the Elbe, it is considered as a sea port due to its ability to handle large ocean-going vessels.

The Port is also one of Hamburg's largest attractions, both as a living, industrial and logistics center but also as a backdrop for modern culture and the ports history.

Furthermore Hamburg organises several festivals and regular events. Some of them are street festivals, such as the “gay pride”, “Christopher Street Day festival”, the “Alster fair” and the “Hamburger DOM”. The last one is the biggest fun fair which is held three times a year. “Birth of the Harbour” (in German: “Hafengeburtstag”) is also a funfair but this one is to honour the birthday of the port of Hamburg with a party and a ship parade.

Besides getting to know the city, we also enjoyed a typical Hamburg visit with a sightseeing bus. This visit included a tour of the city hall, the grand church St. Michaelis (in German “Michel”), visiting the old warehouse district (in German: “Speicherstadt”) and the harbour promenade (in German: “Landungsbrücken”). Additionally to the sightseeing tour, we took one of the harbour boats tours. Fortunately for us it did not rain and we had quite nice weather.

Tomorrow, before leaving to Denmark, we are going to visit the last city Kiel.

Good night and sleep tight! Kizzz !!

-xx-

Sunday 1 May 2011: visiting Kiel

Kiel is the capital city and most populous city of northern state Schleswig-Holstein. This state borders Denmark on the north, the North Sea on the west, the Baltic Sea on the east and the German states of Lower Saxony, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the south.

The city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. In English it is known as the Kiel Regatta and it always takes place in the last week of June. Many thousands of boats and ships of all kinds take part in this parade. Besides the Keel Week, The Olympic sailing competitions of 1936 and the Summer Olympics of 1972 were held here.

 Likewise Kiel is known for its opera houses. The Kiel Opera House (in German: “Opernhaus Kiel”) is the city's major venue for opera, ballet, and orchestral performances. The first performance at the house was Beethoven's Fidelio on 1 October 1907.

Furthermore this capital city has a major shopping district, with the Holsten Street (in German “Holstenstrasse”) as one of the longest shopping miles in Germany. Here we spent the afternoon before going back to the hotel to pack our bags.

Tomorrow we will post another message on our blog when we are in Denmark.

Bye bye! Have a nice day! –xx-

link: http://www.auschwitz.dk/auschwitz.htm

Welcome to Germany!

Monday 25/4/2011

Hi everybody!

Today we arrived again in another country, namely Germany. It’s already the seventh country of our trip and after two months of travelling, I’m really starting to miss home. We’re so close to Belgium and it’s really tempting to change our route, just to see our family again. But on the other hand, in a few weeks our trip ends so it’s really not that long anymore. I’m certainly going to enjoy these last few weeks because I’m having the time of my life!

At 10.30 A.M., we landed at the airport of München and after a short drive, we arrived at our hotel in the centre of this beautiful city. Münich is a very important political centre because it’s the capital of the Free State of Bavaria and there’s also the Bavarian State Parliament.

All four of us were impressed by the city. On the one hand, all the ruins of historic buildings are reconstructed and on the other hand, there are a lot of modern buildings with a very impressive architecture. It's really the perfect mix!

Our first destination was the “Deutsches Museum”, which is one of the oldest and largest science museums in the world. We already visited a lot of museums on our trip but this one was really interesting. At the museum, you can try out different things at workshops and, assisted by young scientists, you can do your own experiments in the DNA visitor’s laboratory! But to make sure that the museum didn’t explode, we wisely stayed out of the lab and took part in a guided tour. This tour was very interesting and we got to know some of the key exhibitions in the museum.

Today was really a cultural day because after a delicious lunch, we visited the Nymphenburg Palace. We went to the Great Hall, the Queens Bedroom, the Blue Salon and the North Antechamber. But after these four places we had enough of history and paintings so we decided to go outside, to the Nymphenburg Park which is the “garden” of the palace. But actually, I don’t think you can really call it a garden if you know that there’s a lake in it and it has several fountains! We walked in the park for two hours and afterwards, we went back to our hotel where we had a delicious dinner.

Lieze

Tuesday 26/4/2011

Today, we went to the Hellabrunn Zoo, which was founded in 1911. There are more than 5000 animals which all live according to their geographic distribution in complex communities. The zoo is really gigantic and after a whole day, we still hadn’t seen everything!

First, we visited the “Jungle Tent”, the habitat of the wild cats and other animals who live in the jungle. It was really impressive! Other units we’ve visited are “Australia” and “Asia”. In that way, our journey doesn’t just lead us from Nigeria to Norway, but also a bit through these two continentsJ

Today was a very beautiful day with nice weather and we took advantage of it by picnicking outside. It was just lovely!

After this long day, we still had to travel. We took the train at Hauptbahnhof to Nürnburg and now I’m really tired so I’m off to bed!

Talk to you soon!

Wednesday 27/4/2011

Hi!

We decided that today we wouldn’t visit any more museums or palaces, but we would discover the city ourselves. This morning we took the underground railway to the Hesperides Gardens. We found the name of these baroque gardens really strange and a gardener told us that they are named after the “Hesperides”, the daughters of Hesperos. They guarded the golded apples in Greek mythology.

In these gardens, you can find almost 50 different varieties of citrus plants and also a remarkable sundial. We just kept walking around from one place to another and we completely forgot the time! It was already 1.30 P.M. when we started looking for a place to eat and we just entered the first restaurant we encountered, the Goldenes Posthorn. But perhaps it would have been better if we just looked a bit longer… The servers were disoriented and they carried out the dishes separately. So, I finished my main course when the others had to wait another 15 minutes to get theirs. Not to mention that they forgot to bring me they salads that I had ordered! Besides, the prices were rather high although the food wasn't very tasty.

After this bad meal, we didn’t feel like visiting another important place so we just went to a football game! We got tickets for FC Nürnberg – SC Karlsruhe at the EasyCredit Stadium. And although I’m not really fond of football, I really had a great time!

Thursday 28/4/2011

Hello everybody

This morning, around 6 A.M., we arrived at our hotel in Frankfurt and although we’re all very tired, we managed to get up at 9 A.M., after only two hours sleep.

After breakfast, we decided to do something completely different than cultural visits. As Frankfurt is one of the leading financial centers in Europe, we adjusted our stay in this city completely to finances. I know that may sound boring, but actually we really enjoyed it.

The city is often named “Bankfurt” and when you walk through Frankfurt, you understand immediately why. There are the “Deutsche Bank Twin Towers” which are visible from almost everywhere. And when I stood in front of them, I felt soooo small! You really can’t imagine how high they are until the moment you stand next to them. It’s incredible!

Further, we also saw the Eurotower. In that building, you can find the headquarters of the European Central Bank. And the last important financial building we saw was the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In front of that building there are the statues of a bear and a bull and I absolutely didn’t know what there was so special about them, let alone that they had to do something with finance. But from a local inhabitant we’ve heard that these statues refer to market situations: bull market and bear market. When there’s a bull market, there’s an increasing investor confidence and with a bear market, there’s a general decline in the stock market over a period of time.

So today was really a different day compared to the others, I even learned something about economy! It's a pity we didn’t have more time, but at 6 P.M. we had to leave for the next part of our trip.

See you soon,

Lieze

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df-GT0_Hw2Y  (This is a link to a short movie, made at the Great Hall at the Nymphenburg Palace)