Week of cancelled concerts. :(

For today I had planned to go to church in town. Not for praying but for enjoying music. A gospel choir had prepared a concert with Kathy Kelly of the famous Kelly Family. Well, famous in Germany, I'm not sure if anywhere else? Unfortunately it was cancelled and rescheduled for February 2014.

I saw Kathy Kelly with a different choir 2 years ago:

On Sunday I wanted to travel to Hannover to see Angelo Branduardi, a very famous Italian singer and songwriter. His music has been part of my life for 35 years now. Luckily I've seen him several times since the 80s, the last concert was this May in Halle. Now he should be on a church tour, but that was already cancelled in August, due to health problems. Hopefully he'll recover and will be able to go on tour in January 2014. I love concerts in winter time - although to have 2 concerts on 2 days following might be a bit overwhelming?

Angelo in Halle 2013

Autumn Kitchen

There isn't anything interesting to blog about every day. Some days are just ordinary days, full of chores and work.

In the middle of September we had to harvest most of our pears to save them from getting blown down the tree. We ate plenty, but now they are getting soft. Last week my husband and I made many of them into jam, but they were too much. Today I finished them except some for eating for the next days.

In August we still had jam left in the basement

 - now there's even more.

Our daughter isn't into jam making yet, but since she is on holidays from school, she decided it's time for the first ginger cake of the season. December ist much too short for all the delicious sweets, so we always start as soon as the weather starts getting wet and windy.

Pumpkin Festival at Castle Polle

When we had our picknick looking at the castle in Polle I remembered our visit for the pumpkin festival there, already 6 years ago. The weather was just as nice and it was amazing to see all the different pumpkins and taste the dishes made from it.

That day we also climbed up the tower and enjoyed the view over the Weser-hills.

Join me on the tower and enjoy the view with the video I made back then:

View over the river Weser, seen from the tower of the castle ruins in Polle

If you want to see more photos, have a look at my Flickr album:

Photos of the Castle and the pumpkins at the festival

Off into a new life....

Long before she had her leaving certificate in her pocket, our oldest daughter planned to move out - somewhere to study. Unfortunately she didn't get a place to study last year - so she worked at the local radio station for a year. This year her chances were better and she finally got a place to study psychology.

Today she moved to Kiel - about 300 km up north. So far she only has a rented room for this month. Now that she is in town, we hope she'll soon find a nice room with other students or a small flat near the university. As she didn't need to bring furniture, she didn't expect to be brought by car, but put everything she needs to survive into a huge suitcase and my old traveling backpack that I used to travel all over Europe in my twens - way back in the last century. With a bag on top she had so much weight to move at the stations.....but then, she's joung and strong.

Usually I'm not allowed to bring her to the platform on the station, but today I was allowed to roll her case to the train. 

Here she is - ready to move into her new life:

She arrived savely and has a cosy place for the night.

Cloister and Castles along the way....

When we started our second cycling day we made a little sightseeing tour in the old city of Höxter with it's historic houses. Then we found the cycle path at the river and reached very soon the cloister Corvey.

This is the back yard - usually not seen on the postcards.

On this part of our journey the cycle path was more comfortable than the day before and often rather romantic. It was the first time I cycled with a helmet - a clever idea in autumn when apples and twigs fall off the trees. 

After the cloister we passed by a castle -  not famous or grand to look at, but there are medieval markets held within it's walls. Castle Tonenburg

 
The next town has an inviting harbour bar overlooked by an old tower that reminded me of a light house at the sea.

For a long distance we could enjoy the quietness of nature although we saw far more cyclists that the day before. 
Our next break was at the bottom of the castle Polle. It was only a ferry ride away, but we visited it before and saved us the climb uphill.

My muscles were no longer happy, especially not when the wind was blowing from the front. Somehow we moved on but I wasn't in the mood for many more photos. The last break was in Bodenwerder. From there our bicycles know the way home.

If you're interested to see more of our trip, have a look at my photo album:

Cycletrip along the river Weser

Where two rivers kiss..

In the town "Hann. Münden" the rivers Werra and Fulda meet and together they become the river Weser. The town can still be reached by train and is a cosy place with medieval houses, towers and churches. We didn't stay long as we had a long way to cycle in front of us.

We passed by the small town where I spent 4 or 5 school trips, as our school owned a hostel there. And thanks to our map we realised, that the ruins of the castle Sababurg and it's huge zoo are behind this forest.

After some hill climbing we reached a sleepy place, where we risked a sunburn while enjoying a cup of coffee outside. It was unbelievable quiet there.

It was a nice rest before the most difficult part of the trip with more hill climbing and rough ways. We had somehow under estimated the distance and for the last 20 km I didn't notice much of the scenery, but concentrated on reaching our destination of that day.

Holiday in the neighbourhood

After two longer cycle trips along the rivers Neckar and Main last year and this summer, my husband decided we should do a bit of cycling along the river Weser, which passes by not too far from our home. Of course we know the cycle path going along it for about 20 km in both directions, but as it's 500 km long, there is more to see.

 We started at Hann. Münden, where the rivers Werra and Fulda meet and it becomes the river Weser.

Many different cycle paths pass this place.... 

We took the 2nd from the top - 

The Weser-Cycle-Path

Most towns along the way still have lovely timber & brick houses.

The cycle path is not always as smoothly as on this photo - but these ways were fun to cycle.

Of course I have many more photos to show, but I'm already back at work, so it'll take a little time to sort through them and write a few words to the most interesting places.