Hotel Kessing Essen

... preserve what he has been collecting all his life. As my eyes moved around the rooms all the wonderful objects I was seeing transfixed me. Pieces and parts from other old carousals surrounded a large wooden carousal in the middle of the open warehouse. Puppet theatres, marionettes, embroideries, pictures, posters, musical toys, figurines, clown cars, fair organs, and so much more filled every crevice and corner of this warehouse and upstairs rooms. I ...

Belgium was a bust



Hello!

So for two weekends in a row, my plans have not worked out exactly as I had hoped. That has only made me more determined to come back again and see Europe! It is unfortunate that I won't go over the border in my 2 months here. I will only set foot in another country on my way home when I stop over in Vienna and Singapore on ...

... it really works.

I am kinda sad that there's not much time left here, but I am happy that I have fulfilled all of my cultural aims. My last one was fulfilled Monday night when I went to the Essen Philharmony. I didn't see Mozart, Bach, Beethoven or anything German but it was FANTASTIC... I saw the Chinese Orchestra. It was there to welcome the new year of the pig.

The instruments were not what u would usually find in an orchestra, but similar. They had ...

... woke up I had just enought time to get ready and go to Uni. I didn't worry too much. To my surprise tt was the exact same test as the first day! Obviously they want to see if we have learnt anything or improved in any way. I think I have...? We'll see...

I'll let u know what's happening next for me:
Today is my last day in Essen for a while. I am off to Berlin tomorrow for 7 days. After that I have to make a decision about where I want to go for the weekend. Hamburg ...

... next Thursday and hopefully the Phantom of the Opera on Friday, plus on Valentines day I am going to see Don Giovanni. It should be good. And it's so incredibly cheap here. I have never known an opera to be only $15 for students in Australia. (Mind you, I have never been to the Opera in Australia...)

So I will leave u to think of me in a winter wonderland (I am not sick, so this is an accurate description).

Speak with u soon,
Sarah

... the whole Opera he wore PJs, the 3 magical maidens wore 20s style Lingerie dresses and the whole set (because it was a dream) was created out of the Prince's bedroom walls, floor and furniture. It was creative the amount of ways that they put it all together, but still I found the sets in La Boheme to be so much better. Granted, they had 5 minute scene changes, where they turned on the house lights and closed the curtains. I liked the music ...

... It was expensive enough to be, but I found it on an equal par with Mövenpick. (steph understands)

So we took the U bahn back to Duisburg. On the train there were heaps of crazy football 'fanatics'. As far as I know, there must have been a game on that night. Not really sure... When we got to Duisburg we tried to find out whether it would be possible to get back to Essen after the Opera. None of the service people were sure because of the ...

... created out of the buildings of an old industrial factory. There were different rooms with different kinds of music. it turned out to be a great night, but yet again we were late getting into bed.

Saturday we were supposed to go on an excursion to see Burg Linn (a castle) but unfortunately because of the storm, the trains weren't running.

I will let u know what happened instead in my next email, gotta go and eat some lunch,

Sarah

Hi guys,
Don"t know if u have heard or not, but Germany is in the middle of a hurricane. 150km winds and severe warnings from the government to stay indoors. It was supposed to hit Essen really hard and we were all sent home from uni early and told to stay indoors. I really wanted to go online today to talk to u all like I said I would. Sorry guys!! I"ve just borrowed Tara"s laptop now. Mum, if u read this, send me a text message when u wake up so I can ...

... already changed my eating plan. I was very strict on myself for the first 5 days. I didn´t eat any chocolate and intended not to do so for the next 4 months so that I can fit into my wedding dress. But today the temptation was too great and the chocolate way too yummy!! I am resolved to eat Chocolate, but for every piece I must walk for an extra 10 minutes per day.

The weather is turning sour.The temperature is still around 10 degrees ...