August 2015
15 August 2015
Day Trips Around Kiel
We have been lucky to take some great little day trips around Kiel this summer. Mostly we have been finding adventure for Ethan to get his wiggles out and see some cool places.
Plön
Plön is a beautiful little village south east of Kiel. It is on a network of lakes and has gorgeous paths that wind through town, forest, and lakesides. There is a castle that was the official summer residence of the King of Denmark in 1840. We explored the large kitchen house and apple orchard that is protected and being repaired with some replanting and care given to the older trees.
Many already had apples ripening on the branches. The orchard had a beautiful wildflower garden next to it. On our walk we saw many bicyclists zooming by and kayakers in the lake. Next time we go we think we will rent a boat and explore some of the lakes.
Haithabu
One day we drove north to visit a Viking Museum and the site of an ancient Viking village. Haithabu was uncovered by archeologists in the late nineteenth century. The town of Haithabu or Hedeby was important to the Vikings as it was located on a trade route on the Baltic Sea with river access to the North Sea. This site now houses a museum and a reconstructed Viking settlement with houses depicting the different building styles of the time including residence, a large meeting hall, and a harbor with a dock and a replica Viking boat. The museum has the Viking artifacts that were unearthed on the site and the history they represent. There are coins, beads, pots, tools, and the hull of a ship. The museum also has replicas of burials sites found in the areas and pictures of how the Vikings lived their daily lives.
Walking to the Viking village you can climb an earthen rampart that was built in a semicircle around the village to protect it. From the top you can look down at the small reconstructed village and harbor and imagine what it must have looked like centuries ago. The town itself had people living as Vikings wearing traditional clothes and making Viking crafts. The houses were small and low to the ground with thatched roofs. The roads were made from logs and the air was filled with smoke from fires used for everything from cooking to making tools. It really felt like we stepped back in time.
Hamburg Zoo and Aquarium
We have been wanting to explore Hamburg, a large city to the south of Kiel, for a while. On our first trip we had to go and visit the zoo and aquarium for Ethan. We took a bus, a train, and the subway to the zoo. It is very easy and fun to take public transportation here. It is usually cheaper and faster than driving yourself with high gas prices andparking prices; further, with the constant road construction driving can be a pain. In comparison buses and trains are easily accessible and run often. The zoo had a baby elephant born just a couple of weeks before we visited! The elephants were a big draw with many people handing them fruits and vegetables purchased at the zoo, which older elephants reached over the moat to snatch out of people’s outstretched hands.
The baby ran around between her mom, aunts, and cousins stopping frequently to nurse. I was surprised at how hairy she was! The zoo also had a section with walrus and polar bears! Ethan was so excited to see the mom and baby walrus swim around. But he wasn’t too happy that they smelled like stinky fish.
The tropical aquarium right next to the zoo. It had lemurs and a whole section for salt water crocodiles complete with a waterfall! Of course Ethan’s favorite section was the large two story take that held the sharks and stingrays! There was a zebra shark, reef sharks, a large grouper, and a shovel nosed guitar fish! It was beautiful to sit back and watch the sharks and fish swim around!
This week we head out on a road trip to Sweden! We will drive through Denmark and explore around the south of Sweden. I will tell you all about it when we return! I hope you all enjoy the last weeks of summer. I am thinking of you getting ready for the next school year and am sad I won’t see you in the classroom this fall. But I look forward to sharing all my adventures with you!
6 August 2015
Stralsund and Aquaria
We have made our way to Stralsund and visited the aquaria with which Alejandro will be partnering for his work in Germany. Stralsund is in northeastern Germany, along the Baltic Sea. It is a small town that is popular in the summer months because of its beauty, proximity to the island of Rűgen and many beaches. Stralsund is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a Hanseatic city, just like Lubeck. In the old part of town you can still see some of the walls, and the cobblestone streets are narrow and wind around old buildings and churches. There are two aquaria on either side of the old town.
The Meermuseum is the oldest of the two aquaria and is dedicated to tropical waters. It is housed in one of the oldest buildings in town, which used to be a monastery. The painted vaulted ceilings are beautiful and the integrity of the building was kept intact while building a fantastic aquarium. Ethan’s favorite part was the room with many taxidermy species such as a giant walrus, many shark speciess, and a huge spider crab! He also loved to watch the live ribbon-tailed sting ray. This sting ray is quite beautiful with bright blue spots.
And of course the highlight of the aquarium was the large shark and sea turtle tank. They have black-tipped reef sharks and three species of sea turtles. Because Alejandro is an official visiting scientist we were showed behind the scenes when the divers went in to clean the tank. One green turtle swam up to check us out and we got to pet it! I am now counting this as a highlight of my life! Ethan was very excited and pointed out that he now has a sea turtle friend! (Not something every three year old can say.)
The newer aquarium, called the Ozeaneum, is dedicated to cold waters such as the Baltic and North seas. This aquarium is state-of-the-art and located in a new building by the water where the ferries come to the mainland. You start your journey through the aquarium by taking a long (as long as a blue whale) escalator to the top and winding your way down through exhibits on the North Sea, Baltic Sea, the fishing industry and a large aquarium that houses a sand tiger shark. There are huge sturgeons, and cod, wave tanks, and beautiful jelly fish.
The highlight of this aquarium is the large four-story tall room with real-life replicas of whales hanging from the ceiling. There is a blue whale, a humpback mom and baby, a sperm whale fighting a giant squid, and an orca. At the bottom there are lounge seats where you can recline and hear a presentation about the whales. The room is dark and they use lights to highlight the story and the whales. They also play whale songs. It is a magical place that we didn’t want to leave.
In fact we went to both aquaria twice on our three-day visit! Alejandro had meetings with the scientists with whom he will be working, so Ethan and I had many chances to explore. We look forward to many more visits and know that we will find something new each time. The director of thetwo aquaria was very welcoming and knowledgeable. Alejandro is looking forward to working with him and his researchers to go through data on recent harbor porpoise studies. Harbor porpoise protection has been in the news recently in Germany and they are still struggling to find ways to protect the important fishery business at the same time as protecting this endangered species.
We also spent time exploring the old town of Stralsund. Many buildings are so old that they had to be refurbished in the 1800s! There was history around every corner. Recently Stralsund was part of East Germany and many of the old buildings still show disrepair from this time and the new buildings outside of old town show the functional structure of that time. There was a beautiful brick square called the Altermarket with an old church and a fountain. The fountain came straight out of the bricks every hour and kids gathered around playing and splashing about.
There was also a string quartet playing and people eating at outdoor cafes. It felt very European and laid back. We enjoyed taking walks and finding little places to eat. We look forward to returning soon! Next week I will post about some of the little day adventures we have taken around Kiel.