Harvest Time

Aunt Petra lives in a house with an old garden that used to be a farmhouse garden. There are 6 old apple trees in the garden, one old pear tree and one massive walnut tree.

On our last Thursday in Germany, Oma, Opa, Mum, Jonas and I are harvest helpers for Petra. We don our fleece jackets, rain jackets, beanies and gardening gloves and start shaking he trees. It is soooo funny when the apples start falling down like massive rain drops! We learn to protect our heads and backs when someone announces another big shake of the overloaded branches. Oh so much fun!

With so many fruit trees, Petra brings the fruit to a fruit squeezing machine that makes juice from the apples and pears and vacuum seals the containers so that the juice keeps for two years. Even though we did not harvest all the trees fully, Petra gets 55 containers of juice from this, with 5 litres each. That is 275 litres of own produced juice. If only we could bring some of it back with us!

Apart from apples, I am also a good harvest helper for grapes. Opa Siegfried's pride grows around their terrace. We had put a net around the vines to protect them from birds. Now in October it's harvest time!

clockwise: aunt Petra, Opa Siegfried, Oma Elke, me and Jonas.

Shaking the tree!

I climbed that branch!

My harvest of 30 minutes of effort, hidden inside the bird netting.

Going, going,... 

Gone!

Elma and Wolfgang and Schachtschleuse Minden

We had already visited Mum's cousin Frank in Berlin. Now we were invited over to Frank's parents, Mum's aunt Elma and uncle Wolfgang in Minden. They are the only people we know in Germany with a pool, and an indoor pool that is! When Mum grew up, she always spent all her time of family get togethers in the pool. Now it's Jonas' and my turn! The adults sit upstairs and talk while we are enjoying the pool!

After lunch, great-aunt Elma and great-uncle Wolfgang invite us on a cruise around the local waterways. In their town, Minden, the great river Weser crosses the busiest European channel, the Mittelland Canal or Midland Canal.

These two waterways intersect with 13 metres of difference in level! The Weser is low as it has already reached the Northern German lowlands whilst the Midland Canal has been built on a very sturdy bridge.

When ships want to sail from one waterway to the other, they have to go through a waterlock. I mentioned Europe's only 4-way water lock in Emden, during our bicycle trip. Now in Minden, we visit Europe's first intersection of two waterways that is managed by a waterlock that can lift or lower ships by 13 metres! In order to save on water, they have built it in a way that only one third of the water gets wasted whilst the other two thirds are stored and then re-used in the next lifting action.

Fun in the pool I.

Fun in the pool II.

On the cruise. 

It is hard to see, but we are in the canal bridge, and the river Weser is crossing below us.

One of many river transport barges bringing things to Berlin via the Midland Canal.

A bit of fun.

Opa Siegfried, I and Jonas in front of the water lock building.

The water dropping starts here: We're still up.

Dropping and dropping - about halfway down now.

All the way down. The gate is starting to lift to let us sail out.

Oma Elke likes the warmth of the indoor Cafe.

Great Aunt Elma.

Great Uncle Wolfgang.

Now on the way back up again, facing the opposite way and watching that water levels rise.

clockwise: Opa Siegfried, great aunt Elma, great uncle Wolfgang, Mum, Oma Elke, Jonas and I.

Externsteine

The Lippe region might not be internationally famous but it has a few attractions that were on our list. The Externsteine ("Exter" Rocks) is a formation of a dozen rocks standing upright. Historians found proof of 12.000 years of human occupation around these rocks! A few hundred years ago they cut steps into two of the domes, and put in a bridge between another two.

We climb the Externsteine with Oma Elke and Mum and do a nice slide-down-a-steep-forest-slope on our way out.

The classic photo shot on the bridge.

A closer up on top of one of the rocks.

Always good for a bit of fun!

Oma, Jonas and I in front of the bridge.

Lippische Schach Jugend Einzelmeisterschaft 2016/17

A few months ago, in preparation for this trip to Germany, we had searched the Internet for suitable Chess tournaments that we could attend in Germany. We found that the region where Mum grew up and where Oma Elke, Opa Siegfried and Aunt Petra still live, Lippe, was holding their annual Chess Youth Single Tournament on 1 and 2 October. We signed up with a local club and were thus eligible to compete.

The tournament was run as Swiss system in the U12 category, but from all these participants they provided extra trophies for U10 gold, U10 silver and U10 bronze.

This was the most serious chess tournament I had ever done. We played with a chess clock and with 60 min playing time per player per game, 7 games in total.

I started the Saturday unfocussed and lost my first two games. When I started to concentrate, I promptly won the next two games and was quite happy with my 2:2 by Saturday evening. The Sunday was a better day for me, I started strong with another win, followed by a loss. The last game of the tournament was crucial.

I had a strange character as opponent. When he started to lose pieces, he demanded to take time off to go to the toilet. In the end game, he had lost all his pieces but three pawns that I could easily control/stop with my pawns, but I still had a rook. Therefore, I started the moves to checkmate his king with my rook and king. My opponent wanted to go to the toilet again! When he came back, he fussed about that the moves were written up incorrectly. Mind you, he had written up the moves, so he was really complaining about his own write up! Finally, when his king was on the second but last rank, he offered me a draw. When I refused, he called the arbiter and wanted the 50-moves-draw to take effect. What a cheat! Happy I don't have to be friends with him! Anyway, two moves later I checkmated him. My 4:3 in the 7 games won me the trophy and the title

Bronze place Lippische Schach Jugend Einzelmeisterschaft U10 in 2016/17

Early on in the game, see the chess clock in the background. 

As there are less pieces in the game, it gets easier to "think". 

Hours of concentration.

Hmmm, this is getting interesting...

Part of the room. Jonas two tables further back.

Bronze U10!!

Berlin: Skates

Finally, we go on a big shopping spree to Berlin Alexanderplatz where Mum buys me inline skates.

Very fist steps in the yard of the hostel.

Oops!

Berlin: more culture

It's not all about family and ice cream. Mum also takes us to a couple of culture trips.

The columns of the Holocaust Memorial make for good hide and seek.

Hmm, maybe not.

On a Spree cruise along the city buildings.

With Berlin Dom in the background.

The people sit along the river bank and call it "beach". 

The Berlin Dome cupola. 

In autumn, they celebrate Thanksgiving in the Berlin Dome.

Kaiser's emblem, the eagle.

In the crypt they store old caskets of kings, queens and noble people.

The Pergamon museum of ancient history. 

A famous old mosaic.

The entrance way of old Babylon.

This one os for Lev: Evolution of modern chess: only for the last 500 years the powerful queen was established, before they had other pieces with different moves on the chess board. 

An ivory pice.

Coins and stamps.

The largest coin ever: A 1 million Canadian Dollar coin.

Berlin: Anna, Andreas, Paul and Bela

After all these activities with the Schremmers, it is time to meet with Dad's side of the family again: Great cousin Anna and her family. I am thrilled to learn that there are more Kappelmanns, and some of them live right in the centre of Berlin, in Prenzlauer Berg.

Paul is seven years old and Bela three. They let us play with all their toys. We spend a lot of time with the car tracks.

Later, we all go out for spaghetti ice cream (that is, vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce and white chocolate flakes) and a big play on the play ground.

Bela and Paul with spaghetti ice cream.

clockwise: Mum, Andreas, Anna, Bela, me, Paul, Jonas.

Trying to be silly.