The Wedding Day with Tea and Scones.

Janet in her greenhouse.

Post Wedding tea

 The Big Day started a little too early for me.  In order to reach the S-Bahn stop at Weserstrasse by 09.30 I had to get up really early to sort things before I left home, and I had to remember to pack everything, including my home made scones and Bisto and Oxo cubes for Janet, these cannot be bought in Germany!   It was an easy journey, hop off the tram onto the bus and I arrived  at Janet's at 10.40, in time to watch the Wedding on Sky TV in English.   What a pretty dress she wore, all lacy top and I liked the plainness of the gown and veil, and such a tiny bouquet. 

After the "Big Ceremony" we sat on the terrace, drank tea, spoke English and enjoyed the sunshine in Janet's garden, with its profusely blooming lilac bush and ruby red tulips.   I arrived home at 18.30, weary from sitting down and watching the box all day!

Thursday I had the Baking of Scones, on Royal Wedding Day we eat them!



 

After.

Before

I am not a cake maker, my only attempt at making a Lemon Merangue pie ended in failure, when I produced what looked like a coagulated mush of thick slimy  custard. It lay on the bottom of a dish and refused to come out.   Cakes seem to know I don't like them, so they gang up on me!  Anyway the scones are not too bad, they taste nice, I have eaten two already and with butter and jam, kindly provided by J in Querum when I visit to watch the Wedding they will taste "Lecker!!

There was a storm in Timmerlah on Wednesday evening, big bangs in the garden and lots of lightning.  It was spectacular to watch over the wide landscape outside my lounge window.  I eventually lowered the "Jaluosien" the louvered blinds outside the windows, and to which I referred in an earlier Blog.   Another good use for the blinds is for  those who hate storms, you can shut out the wild flashes and no rain lashes the  windows.   Off now to watch the Wedding,  I hope you all have a wonderful extra holiday everyone.

"A Mature Woman's Guide to German Train Spotting"

Wednesday morning it rained, the first of my visit, so I consulted the above book and in Chapter 2, "Stuck in on a Wet Morning?"  found a guide to identifying German trains!!  I jest, it was wet, and from the front window of my flat I have a grandstand view of all the passing trains, those from Hannover that serve this local region. 



Car transporter from Volkswagen.

 One photo shows the "ICE" InterCityExpress, the silver grey with a red strip along its length, fast train that serves the long distances between major cities.  A local red double-decker train serves the smaller towns.  I did not take the "ICE" photo, I do not live on the track!   www.seat61.com/ice.htm    Really smart trains!

VW's state of the art car plant is not far from here at Wolfsburg, where there is a visitor centre. I was to visit last year, but the heatwave defeated me, 38c was just too hot to visit a car plant.  I will make a visit later in the year.  Car transporters pass frequently loaded with vehicles.



An "ICE" Train

Yesterday I went to the Birthday Party of a good friend, ate too much wonderful cake of course, but  had a good time with my ears ringing with German conversation.   Today I must shop again, I forgot the milk yesterday and today must bake some scones.  On Friday I visit J & G in Querum for a "Let's Watch the Wedding on Sky TV in English"  whilst at the same time eating English Scones with Cream and Jam.  This will be our Street Party Celebration! 


I Give Greetings to Braunschweig from Bath.

The bombing of Braunschweig.



Domplatz.



After a good walk yesterday morning  to Weststadt and back  for essential food  shopping, mackerel fillets in curry sauce x 2 and four nutty, seedy rolls,  I took the S-Bahn into BS in the afternoon for a bit more shopping and for the 17.00 daily Music and "Andacht" (Devotion) talk in the Dom.  The Domprediger is Dr  Joachim Hempel who is a friend  of  the Bath/Braunschweig Twinning Association and with the Bishop of Bath Abbey.  After the short Devotion, I gave Dr Hempel "Goodwill Wishes" from the Bath Group, of which I am a member. 

The plaque above gives details of the bombing of Braunschweig on the nights of  October 14th/15th 1944.  Most of the city was destroyed and 3000 inhabitants were killed including foreign workers and prisoners of war.  Some historic areas have been rebuilt as "Traditional Islands" little groups of historic buildings that give a feel for how the town must have looked, and are now amid an outcrop of modern constructions.  I like the city, although very modern it is possible to escape into the quiet, half timbered areas and church cloisters and squares.    www.braunschweig.de/english/   Click on the address for information about the city.

There is much music to be heard in these huge churches with their great sloping roofs. I have the programmes for the coming season, so I am in my element.  Haydn's Creation will be performed in the Dom on May 29th and on May 8th is a concert of Organ music by Bach, Reger and Cesar Franck in St Aegidien, a short walk from the Dom.  Wunderschoen!

Norbert's Brief Love Affair and Rasputin Expires in German.



Norbert's brief love affair with Golden Bunny.

 Poor Norbert, on Ostersonntag he met Golden Bunny, a Lindt chocolate friend and it was love and kisses at first sight!  However Golden Bunny has disappeared, gone, melted into thin air without so much of a, "Goodbye Norbert, I will always love you."   Someone ate him, I don't know who, well, actually it was me!

I have discovered a TV station showing English and American films dubbed into German.  Ostersonntag evening I watched "Murial's Wedding" and last night the attempts to kill Rasputin, which took a pint of poison-laced wine and multiple gunshots, played itself out in wonderful German, the gasps, gulps, uggghhhhs and bangs needed no translation.  

Of course, everyone speaks too quickly, but what I grasp is the melody of the language, waiting for the verb at the end of some sentences, and the proper pronunciation.  On Radio the best programmes are Church services, where the priest addresses the congregation in measured terms, slowly and so easy to understand.   Byeeeeee!

A Visit from Friends and a Walk in Timmerlah Woodland.

Easter Sunday was another quiet day, although two new friends visited during the morning, Ulli from the choir I'm about to join and her son, who is a doctor working in a London hospital and who lives in Chalfont St Giles.  He has lived in England for many years and speaks perfect English.  He's on Facebook so we will be able to keep in touch.  The word Facebook has become a verb, to facebook!    We have both been facebooked!!

Ulli and I had a good chat about the choir, the Chorverein "Concordia-Brunsviga" Braunschweig.  The choir consists of a group of older people who, like myself, enjoy singing.  Ulli gave me a CD of a choir concert performance and the choir sounds really good.  They sing some popular songs in English, "Moon River" being one, and sang delightfully.  I'm looking forward to singing again and in German.  I've sung JS Bach's (my boyfriend)  Cantatas in German over the years, so I don't envisage too much of a problem.  English songs will be a doddle!

I do not have a particular faith, but there is a saying,  "Those who sing, pray twice." Singing is a great way to celebrate life, even if you are a bit tone deaf!  To sing is also good for the lungs,  a daily sing up might just add a few years to your life.  Happy days and enjoy the sunshine, it is very hot here.

An Idle Day with a Bit of Shopping and Pondering the Usefulness of Electric Blinds.



In dappled light, Norbert, Mr Lampe, Squirrel, Brian and Bear

Saturday was not a competely idle day, I had some food shopping to do, as  the shops are closed on Sundays and nothing will be open on Ostermontag.  I walked to Weststadt,  (not enough energy for "Wicki" just yet) about a three mile return  stroll, and visited a REWE supermarket, a shop similar to a Lidl or Aldi.   I bought salad stuff,  Milch and yet another packet of Holtseer cheese, a strong and really smelly gift to the human race.  I can smell it from one end of my flat to the other, it lingers in the air as a heavy odour and I am already completely addicted.

I was weary on Saturday and needed a good rest in dappled light,  which brings me to the subject of electric blinds.  Every window in this flat has electrically operated blinds outside the windows.  They offer good security protection and keep in the warmth in winter and the sun out in the warmer months.   Mine are doing overtime at the moment, it is really hot here and I can control the amount of heat that enters my flat with a switch.   They are a very practical idea and one we should adopt in the UK.   I expect they would be expensive, especially if imported from Deutschland into Grossbritannien.

I now have a tv, so I'm permanently tuned into a German news channel that has  words running beneath, just like News 24.  This is the way to learn another language, no Englisch, just Deutsch, Deutsch, Deutsch from every direction and with no escape.

The St John Passion by Mr JS Bach!





Der Domplatz, the audience leaving after the concert.



The performance of the St John Passion was wonderful, yes die Johannes-Passion, I had misread the programme and thought I was going to hear die  Matthaeus-Passion!  My German can be dodgy but I do know the difference between Johannes und Matthaeus.  In future I will include some obvious German words, you may as well learn some Deutsch as I tell my German tales.

A young soprano soloist sang like an Angel with a bell like voice that resonated around the building.   I have sung this work on several occasions but always in Englisch.  It was good to follow the words in Deutsch from my programme.  Compound nouns are very useful, if you know one part of a word it is easy to take a guess at its meaning.  It was hot yesterday and we all sat in the refreshingness of a cool Cathedral.

I took no photos inside, it was not appropriate, although one elderly gentleman did snap away.  After the performance of a Passion the audience does not applaud, we all sat in the most amazing silence for several minutes after the final note,  a very moving experience.

Today I will be lazy, although I must cycle to Weststadt and buy some cheese, Brot  und Salat for the weekend.  This will be my first outing on "Wicki" my trusty bike. The shops do not open here on Sundays and I am not sure about Ostermontag (compound noun, easy to work out.)  I hope you all enjoy reading der Blog, (Deutsch for Blog.)

Braunschweig Cathedral (again) and the Main Station.

Seven armed Bronze Candlestick dated 1170-1180

I haven't got round to cycling yet, I needed a few days of concentrated traffic watching to acclimatize to vehicles being on the wrong side of the road!  I must be careful, it is so easy to forget and step off the curb in my casual English way.

On Wednesday I returned to the Cathedral to source tickets for a performance of the St Matthew Passion by JS Bach (my boyfriend.)  The performance is today, Good Friday at 15.00.  Online booking has closed so hopefully I can buy a ticket on the door.  It will sound wonderful, the music and singing will reverberate around the vaulting.  

I would like to visit Goslar again, a lovely town at the foot of the Harz Mountains.  I visited last year and knew I would have to return for a more concentrated viewing.  I walked to the main station, (got lost at one stage) but knew I needed to go straight on, veering slightly to the left!   I found what I needed, train times to Goslar from platform 2 and trains to Dresden and Leipzig, I've forgotten the platform number but I don't visit until mid June.

Visit:  www.braunschweig.de/english  for info and pictures of the city.   Wikipedia has more information about the places I mention, try:   Brunswick, Germany, (there are several Brunswicks around the world,)  Brunswick Cathedral,  Henry the Lion and Goslar.

Wednesday, Huge Supermarket and Wedding Fever.



Henry the Lion's Lion

The Royal Wedding seems a big topic here, everyone seems to like the idea of a fairy tale wedding, although the Germans are quite happy not to have a monachy.  The papers are full of details about how ordinary Kate is and how wealthy William is!   I attempt to read the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" the local paper, in an attempt to keep up to date with the thoughts and ideas of ordinary people.  Mind you, some of the long German words, the sort that have 27 characters are a bit beyond me at the moment!

Yesterday I shopped with a friend and car in a huge supermarket.  I bought the heavy stuff, water, fruit juice and milk, the stuff I cannot easily carry. I stood bewildered at the choice, the place was so big I could not see the anything I needed.  I came out with strong, smelly cheese, so many wonderful varities to choose from, German beer, well I need a drop sometimes, and a packet of Ryvita type cardboard biscuits. 

We later visited somewhere a little smaller, so much more my style.  There I found exactly what I needed.  I am still slightly lost in my huge flat, I like small spaces, but here I have a long walk from one end to the other, although the sound of Vivaldi from my music centre reverberates magically around the space.  I am very fortunate.  It was very hot yesterday and will be again today.  Easter celebrations are in full swing!



The First Real Day in Braunschweig.

Giant Easter Eggs in the Mall.



Queen Matilda from England.

 On Tuesday I ventured into the city on the  Strassenbahn from Weserstrasse just outside Timmerlah.  It's a 20 minute walk to the tram stop, but it was a lovely stroll the warm sunshine, long may it last.  The bus and tram fares have risen slightly, but it is still fairly cheap to travel around,  especially if you go from one side of the city out into the suburbs.  It all seems so familiar, as if I had never left nine months ago.  I did some food shopping in and was served by the same young lady from last year!  The tram drivers are as unhelpful as ever, although my first trip was with a very nice young male driver who answered my questions in good English.

I spent some time in the Cathedral, a lovely vaulted space and with the Apse and High Altar undamaged during the war.  The Nave  and Aisles are rebuild but it is still a wonderful place to spend time.  I said "Hallo Matilda" to our dear first member of the England/Brunswick Twinning Association.   She was the daughter of Edward 11 and Eleanor of Aquitane and sister of Richard Lionheart, and married Henry the Lion of Brunswick in 1168.  She died in 1189 and is interred with Henry in the Cathedral crypt. 

I left the Cathedral by the Bath Portal, where a plaque and rambling rose bush commemorate 836 years of association between England and Brunswick Cathedral. The rose was planted by the Bishop of Bath and the Dean of Brunswick on "English Day" on June 4th 2000.  Rather touching I think, and the rose continues to climb healthly up the Cathedral wall.

The First Day, a Walk to the Canal and a Friend Visits.

The first walk of my lengthy stay was to the Strichkanal Salzgitter canal, seen in the middle of the map with the village ofTimmerlah to the right and a return walk of about 3.5 miles.  This part of Germany is very flat, you can see where you want to go miles before you get there, it's wonder that cyclists like it, no hills and really excellent cycleways.  I have the use of "Wicki" again, my trusty bicycle from last year.  She lies dormant at the moment, I'm not feeling that energetic just yet and the sun is hot in a coudless sky.  I hope Wicki knows her way about as I intend cycling into the city and along the towpath to visit friends.

Monika visited last night, we ate strawberries, drank tea and spoke mostly German, I now have so many words at my command, I can chat about or around most topics.  I also received another present, a Easter Hare whose German name is Meister Lampe, so he joins Norbert, Brian and Squirrel as one of my necessary travelling companions.

I also have a good internet connection, so I can now update this Blog with ease.  I use my pc for so much of my work, the loss of a connection is a bit of a bind!   Last night a kind IT neighbour visited and entered all sorts of numbers and codes into a grid, pressed a few buttons and "Hay presto" I can keep you all updated on my Timmerlah/BS goings on. Oh well, I am a "Bus Timetable Anorak" and a "PC Nerd" too!"   Egal!!

Easy Journey, Easy Everything, NIce Flat, Huge Bed!

I'm sitting at the table left, with my Netbook writing to tell you that I arrived safely with no hitches, it was a dream trip, although I arrived at Southampton Airport far too early, as I alway do.  The flat is lovely and this morning bathed in sunshine.  It is far too big for me, I have to walk half a mile to the kitchen!   Here's the lounge, enough room for a good party here one night, or maybe two!

Today will be quiet, I plan a walk to the canal, about 3.25 miles return as I had no real exercise yesterday.  I have to walk to stay youngish and sane!  More news to follow, more pictures, more German for me to speak, Bettina speaks little English, and so much to think about.  Take care all my friends around the world.  Cheers!

The Day has Arrived!

This is it folks, off today for 23 weeks of speaking German, visiting interesting places, Dresden for one,  meeting all my friends and getting by in another language.  I'm going to do some cooking and entertaining, and enjoy the company of everyone who has looked after me during my previous stays in lovely Braunschweig over the last two years.

Give me time to sort the internet connection, I have my Netbook and Dongle, which may not work, so it might take a few days to get organised.   Aufwiedersehen friends everywhere and see you in October, I return to GB on the 7th.

The Final Bits and Pieces and Roundway Down.

I packed the final bits and pieces today and then went for a walk with Celia and Pippin to take my mind off what I have and haven't packed.    We walked on Roundway Down, the site of a Civil War battle in 1643.   The Royalists defeated the Roundheads here and drove them over a steep hillside, now called "Bloody Ditch." 

An old hill fort dated 500 BC also stands on the hilltop and is known as "Oliver's Castle" although there is no evidence of Mr Cromwell ever being here and involved in the bloody punch up!  The remains of only one soldier have been found and he is buried in Rowde Churchyard.

Money, Euros, Passport, EU Health Card, Tickets, More Tickets.

All is virtually packed, bar a few last minute things,  the sort that are always thrown in when you realise there is a tiny bit of space left.  My suitcase weighs 17.5 kgs, and my allowance is 20 kgs, so 2.5 kgs left to fill! 

Here is my itinerary for Sunday 17th April:
10.15   GMT    I leave Devizes by taxi for Trowbridge station.
11.05      "       Catch a coach, (no train, track maintenance) to Salisbury station.
12.25     "       Train from Salisbury to Southampton Airport.
13.20     "       Arrive at the Airport and have lunch.
15.00     "       Check in baggage.
17.35     "       Take off! 
20.20   CET    Land at Hannover Airport to be met by Dorothea and car.
22.00     "       Arrive at my flat in Timmerlah.

Aufwiedersehen friends, see you in October!

A Busy Day in Bath with a Buzzing Mind!

I visited Bath today and found myself in the Fashion Museum.  To mark the imminant Royal Wedding, the museum has mounted an exhibition of Wedding Dresses dating from the 1800's.  The oldest dress in the museum, dated circa. 1660 was also on display, not a wedding dress but a very beautiful Court Dress from the time of King Charles 11.  The gowns were stitched mostly in white or ivory silks, satins and lace and some were embroidered with the most intricate beaded decoration, all a real feast for the eye.

My head is rather spinning at the moment with, "Have I remembered this and have I packed that,"  Not to worry, I can always buy what I have forgotten in Braunschweig.  I have a 20kg baggage restriction and have already reached 17kgs so cannot pack too much more!

Salisbury Cathedral, Wonderful Music and Good company.

I  made this little videoclip on Saturday evening in Salisbury Cathderal at a performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" given by the Portsmouth and Salisbury Choral Societies.  It was wonderful, my only wish was that I was singing too.  I am not happy sitting in the audience at big choral concerts,  I always want to be up there singing my little heart out! 

I stayed with two lovely friends over the weekend and then, on Sunday we drove back to Devizes where after lunch, we walked the Caen Hill flight of locks in glorious blue skies and sunshine.  Today I feel rather tired, but will recover with the help of many cups of tea and an afternoon nap!  I've now have only seven days to wait until I arrive in Germany, goodie gumdrops!! 



Frank's Curry and Tulips in the Britzer Garden Berlin.

I am visiting Salisbury Cathedral this weekend to listen to a performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis."  I stay with friends overnight and return to Devizes on Sunday morning. Frank always cooks a good curry, so we tuck in before the performance and a good evening is had by all.  Please watch this lovely videoclip of the tulips in the Britzer Garden, accompanied by Vivaldi's wonderful music. 

Neurotic Packing and Unpacking has Begun!



Pansies blooming in Devizes.

 The packing and unpacking has begun!  Why is it so difficult to make up your mind.  I put a huge, separate pile of stuff on my bed and filter it through my butterfly mind into my suitcase.  Will I go to a party and need this, or will I spend all my time cycling and walking and need that???  Of course, I will eventually throw it all in and take the lot. 
I can always buy the extras I need when in Braunschweig and will probably come back with more than I took.
The photo shows pansies blooming in Devizes town centre this week.  What dear little faces they have, and that in spite of the cold wind that was blowing at the time.

Flowers for a Spring Day.

I walked Caen Hill on Sunday and photographed this collection of spring flowers.  The day was overcast and it rained heavily in the afternoon, but it was good to be out and about.  I have finished my article about the bus journey and will email it to the organisers today.  I have to send some photos too, I have a nice picture of the 49 bus somewhere in my albums.    I do not know the name of the pink flower. Please tell me if you know.

Honeysuckle



Bergenia



Lobelia









Celendine