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Showing posts from October, 2017

Bremen & Bremerhaven 2017

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Bremen - Short trip to the North of German   In August, I went to Bremen and Bremerhaven with my researching group. We made a guided city tour thorugh the city of Bremen and went to the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven.     The city tour started in the Old Town with the Market Square . The Town Hall of Bremen was erected between 1405 and 1410 in Gothic style, but the facade was built two centuries later in Renaissance style. The Town Hall is the seat of the President of the Senate of Bremen and it also hosts a restaurant - the Ratskeller -  where we went to eat dinner. Two statues stand to the west side of the Town Hall. One of them is the statue Bremer Roland (1404), which was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, together with the Town Hall, in 2004. The second statue is the statue of the Town Musicians ( Bremer Stadtmusikanten ), which portrays the donkey, dog, cat and rooster of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale. Moreover, we also saw the Bremen Cathed

Norway 2017

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Bergen og Flåm - Jeg elsker Norge!   After travelling to Oslo in 2006, I always had the dream to come back to Norway. Finally, I went back to Norway in February 2017. Norway is still my favourite country. And I love the beautiful nature there. When I arrived in Bergen, it was warmer than in Germany. I was quite impressed. Even if Bergen is just a small city, every building seems to be very special. Unfortunately, the famous Fish Market wasn't open in the winter period. But nevertheless, I enjoyed an amazing long weekend in Norway.     On the second day, I made a daily tour to Fl åm and the N ær øyfjord . At first, I took a train from Bergen to Myrdal, followed by the train run on the Bergen Line to Fl å m (with the famou s Fl åmsbana) . The construction of the 20.2 km long railway line started in 1924 and was opened in 1940. The train stopped at the Kjofossen waterfall, which was frozen at this time. After arriving in Fl å m, I hiked in the mountains, before the

Potsdam 2017

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Potsdam - In Winter and Summer season   At the end of January 2017, I visited my sister in Potsdam the first time. It was cold and icy. So we didn't go around the whole city. But finally, I could see one part of the university, the Botanical Garden of the university and the Park Sanssouci.   The highlights were the baroque New Palace , which was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Year's War, and was completed in 1769, and Sanssouci Palace . The palace was designed/built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and Jan Bouman between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick's II need for a private residence.   At the end of the day, I saw the original Brandenburg Gate on the Luisenplatz in Potsdam, which was built in 1770/1771 by Carl von Gontard and Georg Christian Unger by order of Frederick II of Prussia.   In August, I went to Potsdam again and we went to the Japanese Bonsai Garden in Ferch. The garden is a horticultural work

Vietnam 2016

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Vietnam - A long journey from the South to the North!   After visiting Singapore, I flew to Ho-Chi-Minh-City, also known by its former name as Saigon, which is the largest city in Vietnam by population. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony and the republic of South Vietnam between 1955 - 1975. Due to the French influence, there were a lot of buildings with French architecture style like the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon and the Central Post Office . The cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880 and has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters.   In front of the Central Post Office, a group of young Vietnamese students asked me to practice English with them. It was a kind of interview, where they asked me some questions about my country, why I decided to travel to Vietnam or what I like the most in Vietnam. As thank-you gift, one of the students bought me one of the really nice 3D cards. On my first evening in Saigon, I