In the Kitchen

On her last vacation days Mia helped making strawberry jam and wanted to make some sticky rice pancakes on her own..

 ..they turned out pretty well

Hamburg

After leaving the farm Saturday morning we drove to Hamburg to see the Shins who are old friends of Ji.
The first wanted us to try a fish place in Altona not too far from the harbor

After this we checked out the cruise ship terminal around the corner which had a beautiful view

Our next stop was the brand new concert hall - Elbphilharmonie - which was bulit in the old harbor

 It also had a nice view of the river

Last Days on the Farm

The last two days on the farm we didn't do any trips and Mia enjoyed the animals and we took at easy and relaxed with a book or go for a walk.
The mornings started with a riding lessons - which now included some riding without a rope

Then the other animals got some attention

Mia didn't join us for a little trip to the Bungsberg which was only 5 minutes away and his the highest mountain in the state of Schleswig Holstein - with an altitude of 168 m

On top there is a TV tower with a 50 m high observation deck - the small ring at the lower part - which s open to the public and free

The view from there is really nice

One can see the Baltic sea 15 km to the north

Mia got invited on a trip with the tractor which seems to have been even more fun

Then it was time to bring in the animals one more time

It was a wonderful week which would be nice to repeat next year

Lübeck

The city of Lübeck which was an important trading port by the Baltic sea and the queen of the hanseatic cities 600 years ago was only a 40 minute drive from our farm. So we made a day trip to see the old town which is a UNSESCO world heritage site.
Before we could do that Mia had of course another riding lesson on Blaika

We parked in a garage next to an old city gate and started our visit with a one hour cruise around the old town which is on an island in the river Trave

After passing the old quay we passed through some side arms with gardens

There was a public lawn with cloths lines right by the water

After one hour we returned to our starting point

After our cruise we explored the city by foot

From a church we had a beautiful view of the city

After this we stopped at the market square by the town hall

Time for a break at an nice cafe with great strawberry and marzipan cake

The cafe was run by Niederegger who is famous for its marzipan and also had a great store nearby

Of course we bought some marzipan there

In a side street we saw the Willy Brand house - who was German chancellor in the early 70'ies

On our walk we passed many beautiful corners

Of course we had to ask for a picture in front of the Holsten gate - a famous landmark in Lübeck which used to be on the back of the 50 DM note