Guten Morgan from Kaarst Germany,

I arrive at Dusseldorf station with my mountains of bags and waddle off the train... then I seen Maggie... I have not seen Maggie since March 2010 so over a year... besides her hair been longer and her nose being pierced she has not changed one bit... I give her a big hug and we make our way by trains and busses to her Village Vorst (I think) which is in Kaarst... We arrive at her house and her mum is there to greet us... Her mum reminds me of my mum, they have the same build, although Maggies mum may be a tad taller and they have a similar gentle nature. The first thing Maggies mum asks me is if my feet are cold as I am wearing thongs haha typically Australian I say no they are fine... I get the tour of their gorgeous home and place my things in what will be my room for the next few nights.

After settling in Maggie and I head into Dusseldorf for a look around. She shows me the "old town" and also the television tower. Their TV towers are really cool; you can go up them and get an aerial view of the city. We did this, Maggie pointed out all of the things she knew and we worked out other things together. Up the top the glass windows are on a 45 degree angle and you can lay on them so when you look down you are lying out over the city... Maggie insisted that I did this even though I assured her I was fine missing out as I was scared s***less, she grabbed my camera and waited patiently why I slowly manoeuvred myself to lay on the glass... after a quick pic I was back standing upright and away from the glass.. It was pretty cool but considering we were 168metres from the ground I was just as happy when I was back upright.

We wandered back through the old town and had some Starbucks and then went back to Maggies. Maggie had a dinner she had to go to so I had dinner with Maggies mum and sister, talked to them a little bit about what my travel plans are and then I freshened up and had an early night to try and recover from life on the tour.

Maggie and I had a bit of a sleep in and woke up around 10am we made some breakfast, bacon and egg rolls and skyped my parents. Maggie said hello and caught up with them and they laughed when I told them what I was eating... it tasted just like home and was amazing. After breakfast we got ready, got the map and GPS and set off on a mini road trip to a few close by towns Borg and Zons I think they were called... I'm sure if Maggie is reading this she will be shaking her head at me by how wrong I am... anyway after getting a little lost on the Autobahn we reach our first stop which is Zons. This is a small medieval town or Medieval as Maggie thought it was said... which I prefer so I am going to start saying Medieval... hope that is ok... if not too bad :) the town had the cutest little buildings and churches and a windmill and they put on performances during the summer as well. We didn't see any performances but we did have a look at where they perform them... it is a small outdoor stone amphitheatre... very cool. After this we headed back to the car an made our way to Borg...

We were doing so well making our way to Borg until we got to Borg... we were going there to see a castle and ride a chairlift... we drove straight past the castle not even realising.. we stopped and asked a lady for directions who thought we were crazy so then we pulled into a car park to ask a cafe where the castle was as we didn't realise we had driven past it yet and we saw the chairlift... we then made out like we didn't get lost and this was all a part of the plan.. Although the crazy lady at the bus stop knows the truth... as now you all do to...

Anyway we wandered to the chairlift and caught it up to the top which is where the castle that we drove past is... as we made our way up we saw some goats... Maggie has a thing for goats... I think it is more animal envy as she tried to tell me the day before all the animals they have in Germany and the list wasn't to long... so when she saw any animal she was like oh I can smell goats let's have a look.. It was adorable...

We made it to the top where we looked around took some pictures and I got an ice-cream... magnum yum!! We looked in a little shop next to the castle where I bought Stacey a gift... so if you are reading this Stacey your gift is from a medieval castle in Germany... haha. We made our way back down the chair lift and then Maggie took me to a lake that her and her friends grew up swimming in over their summers...

It was really cool, it was a massive lake with clear water that you could see the bottom and had lots of little piers all around... the piers are privately owned but as it was a cool day no one was there to police them... we sat here for a bit talking about how Maggie settled back in after her year in Australia and then we talked about Christmas and how her Christmas last year was a white one and the Christmas the year before she spent with my Aunty donna and how different they were, I then told her about our family Christmas' and the different traditions that we have and how this year I miss the big family Christmas as I will be living amongst elephants. We sat there for about an hour and then headed to see Alex quickly to plan what we were going to do that night... I was really excited to see Alex as I had not yet seen him, he too has not changed at all and standing with them 2 together again it felt like yesterday that we were getting smashed by hail stones with Katie at Moomba in Melbourne... oh the memories.

We went back to Maggies via a supermarket where I got the coldest can of coke ever, it was amazing... you may be reading this going cold coke cool jess but what you don't understand is that in Europe they have their fridge temperatures set so low that everything is cool not cold.. This has been my one big annoyance for the past month gallivanting around Europe and now I had the coldest coke ever and it was AMAZING!!! Anyway I also got some TUC's which are like our savoy biscuits back home but better. When we got back to Maggies her mums boyfriend Herman was their also, so we got some bread, the Tuc's and my cheese from the Netherlands and had some late afternoon tea. I drew them an awesome map of Australia that Maggie laughed at and explained to them where I live and where my aunty Donna lives and where Melbourne city was and also explained the distances between them so they could understand how massive our country is. Everyone loved the cheese, even though Maggie was doubtful and hesitant... she went back for seconds and thirds... Alex came over to Maggies when he was finished giving his last piano lesson and we headed to a bar in Neuss which is like Geelong and where they live is like Ocean Grove and Dusseldorf is like in between Geelong and Melbourne in size... if it makes it easier to picture.. We sat and talked for a while and then Alex' friend Chris came as he is going to spend a year in Australia and wanted to practise his English... We all chatted for a while had a couple of beers and talked about Australia and Germany and the differences and Music Festivals and many other things, at about midnight we called it a night as Alex had to work the next day.

The next morning Maggie and I slept in again and made some breakfast, we were both really tired and lacked any form of motivation, we were planning to go to Koln (Cologne back home) for the day but as we thought it was a couple of hours away we decided against it and we were going to lie to Alex and pretend we did as he really wanted Maggie to show me the Dom.. Maggies mum came home and she told us it was only about 40 minutes away so Maggie and I stopped been so lazy and got ready to go... I went through my bag and gathered about 5kg of stuff to send home which included the families gifts so far and some clothes I wasn't using... we set off for Koln... as we approached I could see in the distance the top of a massive gothic looking church.. We headed out of the station in Koln and there it was the Dom... I thought when they were talking about it and saying I have to see it that it was a dome of some sorts, hence why I wasn't so worried if I missed it... but no it wasn't a dome it was a massive church that like the one in Barcelona is not completed as it constantly needs repairing.. It was beautiful, I am going to go out on a limb and say it is better than Gaudi's Familia church in Barcelona... it's a tough contest but I think the Dom in Koln takes the title of most spectacular church I have seen so far.. We go inside where there are stained glass windows and what is rumoured to be the coffin/remains of the three wise kings or men... I can't remember what they are called but you know who I mean... I am not a religious person, clearly but this had me extremely impressed and very thankful we got off our butts and came to Koln...

After taking in the amazingness (if that is even a word) of the Dom we went for a bit of a shop... I only bought a pair of closed shoes similar to converse or Chucks as the Maggie and Alex calls them as my feet are sick of been cold. We find the post office after asking for directions whilst standing in front of it and I post all my stuff home. After this we head back to the main station where I sort my train ticket to Sweden out for the following night and we head to Dusseldorf to meet back up with Alex...

We got back to Dusseldorf a little early so went and got Starbucks and chilled out for a bit. We then met up with Alex who insisted I try a real German sausage... We went to a shop and they got me to order it in German all by myself... I got 1 bratwurst, I small pommes (fries) and one large coke... I don't remember all of what I said but the lady got my order right so must have said it correct. I had my first bite and it was soooo good... after we finished we went to a 7/11 type store and bought a couple of beers and went and drank on the steps right by the Rhyne River... the sun was setting and there were a few different groups doing the same thing.. It was really cool and awesome how you can drink on the streets... no one is fighting, everyone is chilled and they are all just having a good time. It made me envious and realise how many rules we have to live by back home and that this could be why there are so many issues... anyway that's a debate for another time... Do you remember that building I was telling you about, the TV tower...? Well that building has a clock that runs down it... now it is really hard to explain but I will give it a try and also upload a pic so you can see-

Now in Europe they do not use AM and PM they use 24 hour time. So 10pm would be 22:00 pretty easy... but the clock is all dots and also in 24 hour time...

So the top section will have 0, 1 or 2 dots... no dots is if it is 01:00-09:00, 1 dot is if it is 10:00 to 19:00 and 2 dots is if it is 20:00 to 24:00

The next section is the second number so they go to 9 dots so if there is 1 dot in the top section and 9 dots in the second it is 19:00 or if there are no dots in the top and 3 in the second then it is 03:00... Make sense?

The next 2 sections are the tens and ones of minutes so the third section is 0-5 and the fourth is 0 to 9 so if there is 4 dots in the third section and 6 dots in the fourth then it is 46 minutes past whatever the hour is...

The last two sections are the same but show the seconds instead...

So the picture I took has the following dots in each section-

First section- 2

Second section- 1

Third section- 2

Fourth section- 7

Fifth section- 4

Sixth section- 1

So the time is 21:27 and 41 seconds so in Aussie it is 9:27pm and 41 seconds... ill upload the pic so you can see... but it is pretty cool...

Anyway these two girls sat near us and when they spoke I was like they are American... anyway I overheard them trying to work out what the clock was so I explained it to them. They asked where I was from and I said Aus and I asked them if they were from the States... nope one was German and the other was Dutch... Alex and Maggie laughed and I asked why she sounded American and she said she learnt English watching the cartoon network... haha I thought this was hilarious. The Dutch girl is going to Australia so we were chatting with her for ages telling her what's good to see and what's not so good to see they then asked me to say some words and laughed when I did... I then realised what it felt like to be Irish and how we get them to say things all the time... anyway Chris from the night before came as well and we all sat and chatted for a bit before they headed off to a night club and me, Alex and Maggie headed home as it was 11pm and we all had an early start the next day.

We wake up early and Skype mum and dad as Alex wanted to see them and say hello. It is 7:15 in Germany and we are up so early because Maggies sister Judith is flying to Africa today and they have to take her to the airport and I am going to work with Alex. Alex works on a TV show in Germany he helps with the filming and also with the cutting... he is a bit of an all-rounder. His boss is the star of a cooking show that airs on one of the networks in Germany. I went along to his boss' house and had breakfast with him, his family and Alex. We then head off to location... in Germany there is a new craze starting where they open clubs that are like beach resorts, they have sand and beach umbrellas and banana lounges and pools... as it is meant to be summer in Germany his boss is doing his cooking show at various locations around the area that are these beach clubs. We get there and it immediately reminds me of a beach bar in Bali... they set up all the cameras and the cooking stuff and then people start coming that are the audience. His boss gets me to go in the audience and we stand at the back of him whilst he cooked the most delicious lamb cutlets... he would say jokes and everyone would laugh, but as it was all in German I just followed and laughed to although I had no idea what he was saying.. For all I know he could have said "look at the stupid Australian" and here I was laughing haha I doubt it but you never know... he then got a few of us to taste it and see what we thought... it was yum.. I ate more once the show was complete... yes mum I ate red meat. Maggie came and met me at location and then we headed back to her place... We laid on lounges in her backyard as the sun was out and spent the arvo chilling out. About 4 pm she headed to jazz dancing and I started packing. Her mum comes home around 5:30 and we cooked dinner and chatted. Her mum is an amazing artist and her dad was aswel so we talked about the paintings and sculptures around their house. We also talked about photography and when Maggie was in Australia. Time sped right up and Maggie came home... the next thing I know it was time to jump in the car and head for the train station for my train to Sweden. I was excited to go see Erik but I wasn't ready to leave and Maggies mum said I should stay longer... I wished I could have. We said our goodbyes, got a photo and I jumped on the first of 5 trains I would be taking over 23 hours to get to Sweden. Maggie and her mum waited on the platform waving until the train left... once they were out of sight I teared up a little, wiped it away and got ready for the next part of the Adventure... Sundsvall, Sweden with Erik... Kaarst was amazing, Maggie's house and family were beautiful and seeing Alex and Maggie again was a definite highlight of my trip so far... next stop Sweden.

25th July 2011 to the 28th July 2011