The German Junket: Last Kick at the Can

It is our last weekend in Bochum. *Wow*

First 'stop' was a last ride on the bikes yesterday and transferring them back to Ralf-Juergen and Marliese, then we went out to a nice restaurant. But since we were a bit early, we rode the bikes to the top of the hill behind the restaurant. See if you can pick out the physics building from the 'other' side of the valley - a view which we haven't seen before.

You can just make out two observatory domes on the distant building.

Goodbye bikes -- thank you R & M!

Bochum is at 51 degrees north latitude. It is dark when we get up and dark early in the evening. A heavy fog greeted us this morning -- our last Sunday in Bochum.

View from the apartment's little balcony

But there was time today to make a final excursion -- not too far or ambitious though. A clue is given by this radio:

A radio

Now you might wonder why such a mundane picture (the radio, not Richard). It is because this little radio has kept us company for 3 months. Most of the songs are in English with a few in German. There is something comforting and normal about having a radio going, hearing lots of songs and the occasional ad. Also the weather (das wetter) and how many kilometres of traffic jams (stau) and blockages (stockung) that are on the roads. Our favourite station comes from Dortmund ("Das wetter in Dortmund") which is just 25 km away.

So our final Sunday excursion today was to head to Dortmund. The Christmas market stalls were closed (it being Sunday and all), but a treat was the giant Christmas tree which you can see peaking out from behind in these pictures.

We had heard of the giant tree which is apparently the largest in Europe. I had doubts at the beginning since, after all, Winnipeg has a pretty big one at the city hall each year. But doubts were put to rest.