Greetings from Germany! There were no photos to choose from Germany in the library of photos from this webpage so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like (the photo on this postcard is from Belgium!). I'm currently with my friends Anja and Cordula in Oldenburg, Northern Germany. I arrived in Hamburg on Thursday after delays at the airport from Edinburgh and Copenhagen because of the weather-a storm coming from the Baltic Sea caused havoc for air traffic but my flights were fine and I arrived in Hamburg in the end about 50 minutes late. Anja and Cordula were there to meet me and we went into town to drop off my bags at the Youth Hostel (great views over the Port) then went back into town to eat and have a bit of a look around. We went to a funfair (set up for Christmas) and then headed back tot he hostel. On Friday Cordula left to see her brothers in Freiburg in the south. Anja and I did some more sightseeing around Hamburg-we went on an cruise on the river Elbe and around the Port area which as really interesting and the sun was out which was nice! We then walked around the older part of the city and saw the City Hall and the lakes near the city centre. In the afternoon after lunch we visited "Miniture World" a place where they have created miniture models of towns like Hamburg, parts of America (small towns, around the Rockie Mountains etc) all complete with trains, trucks, houses, people etc with incredible detail. They also used different coloured lights in the rooms to simulate day and night and when it turned to night lights came on in the houses etc. All very impressive! That evening we took the train to Oldenburg (about 2 hours journey) and I stayed with Anja in her flat as her flatmate was away for the weekend. Saturday morning we woke to hail and snow on the ground! Not that much but we had sleet showers for most of the day and it was fairly chilly! We walked around the centre of Oldenburg and looked at the different shops and market in the town square. Yesterday we went to the town of Wilhelmshaven next to the North Sea where we walked along the beach (certainly not swimming weather!) and Anja showed me where the research ships leave for the islands nearby and the North Sea for marine research. We also visited the aquarium there which was fantastic. The array of marine life was great and there were some amazing coloured fish I had never seen before. There also had a couple of South American penguins, 3 seals (called Peter, Paul and Mary) and a crocodile! Cordula and I are going to Bremen (about 1/2 train journey from here) soon so I better sign off. Thank you to all of you who have sent messages of support and love following Grandma's death. It has been hard being so far away but it really helped that I was staying with family at the time and the messages from home have sustained me. Love, Sonia