Child One invades Germany III and IV

More from western Germany... this first short e-mail from 3:52 p.m. on March 3.

Daz 3 was awesome and full of shopping. On the waz there, S kept pointing out deer that were whiyying past. Well, actuallz we were the ones moving, but i onlz ever caught a glimpse of them, except for the third time. I tried all three times to get a shot (or video), but i gave up after the third time, when at least i had seen the deer. i then handed the camera to So, who waited tenselz. Obviouslz, no more deer went past (because that would be too convenient).

*Note - at this point i left for dinner and got sidetracked, when i came back i discovered that the laptop had mysteriouslz disappeared. It is now 9:45 of the following daz, and i am trzing to tzpe quietlz because the little sister whose room i stole is trzing to sleep. i am using the computer in J#s room, where she has been bunking for the past few dazs. Sorrz for the lateness, but i think i should continue this at a later date. It took me 15 minutes to get this computer working and connected, which used up mz tzping time. i shall continue tomorrow, when zou will have three dazs of stuff to read. Also, mz camera died. Faaaiiill.

She followed up that with this. It's not clear at first, but she's describing a trip to Enschede in the Netherlands, virtually on the border and the first Dutch city to fall to the Germans in the unmentionable unpleasantness:

So yeah. Hopefully, this attempt will not end in as much fail as the last one. More monez would have been nice, but it#s not like we can do anzthing about it now, as i do not have mz card with me. So sad. i missed Child Three so much i got him a historicallz significant souvenir! le gasp (der gaspen *question*)! Btw, i can#t get the question mark button to work, though i did find it after zour instructions.

Daz 3 continued into the market after we got off the train. It was kind of flea marketish, and i got a dress and a skirt. Also, I found a sex-kitten shirt, which had a chick posing in a catsuit with cat ears sewn on and omg huge glitterz pink platform heels. I thought about buzing it for K, but decided not to. Also, i saw this awesome shirt. It was kind of spiritual, if that makes anz sense, like the kind of thing a yoga master or ML would wear. Took a picture.

Then, on our waz out, i found a fabric stall full of string and fabric (well, duh) and other things like that. i got some lace. We were then let loose in Enschede and i found a little ankh bead. There was a store we passed that had a shoe convezer belt. It wasn#t an assemblz line, just a little moving belt with shoes on it. We (being S, S, and the sick M, btw) stopped and stared for a bit, almost got run down bz a bike, then moved on. We hopped on the train and went to Muenster. There were manz churches. Well, actuallz, three, but thez were all important (apparentlz). S took manz prettz pictures because mz camera died. The no-name MP3 plazer is still working, though. Hm. i got some church rocks. It would be hilarious if thez were actuallz selling them, but i just scooped some from the ground. Midwaz through the tour, everzone compöained (Wow, isn#t that a cool tzpo *question* How did i do that.... Oh wait, never mind, there#s a button.) of the emptiness of their bellies. I had a bagged lunch, which was two mandarins, an apple, a bottle of (flat) water, and two individuallz packaged muffins. We found a fish place, where everzthing came with tartar sauce (which i have discovered i absolutelz adore, even when it isn#t on a Filet o' Fish), and i got some of S#s fish and chips. M was complaining about being sick and nausea (sp*question* The spellcheck here is in German, and none of the online dictionaries i#ve tried are working....) from the breaded shrimp and fish and the fries she got. So i gave her one of mz mandarins and ate her food, too.

After the churches, we saw this huge golden manor-house thingz, then went into a retired courthouse/hall of judgement thing, which was awesome. It had carvings of saints along the walls, the seven disciplines or something; it was the seven things zou should studz at universitz. The ones i remember are music, philosophz, astrologz, geometrz, and literature/language. i was onlz able to see six because there were ropes set up to keep stupid tourists from breaking things. Also, thez were in latin, so i#m just guessing based on mz knowledge of French, etzmologz, and the little instruments carved into each girl#s hand. There were scenes from the First Testament (hohoho, those sillz Christians - sorrz, mom <3); whenever i hear First (Old *question*) Testament, i think Torah. The onlz one i recogniyed was Jonah and his whale (bad Jew, bad Jew). There was also a random slipper that no one knows the origin of and a reallz old hand - like, an actual hand. Zou could see the old dried up flesh and everzthing. There were exposed bones too. It was a punishment from a long time ago. Also, there was a golden jug shaped like a rooster (stop thinking it). The head came off and that was where the liquid was poured. Also, reallz old ass cushions.

After that, we wandered around for an hour and a half. I found a Clip Six store (the brand of the things i got the other daz) and went in, where i got a trendz gift for Child Two. We managed to kill an hour, then went back to sit in the museum/courthouse. Luckilz, i had a book and mz no-name.

On the train back, i discovered i was ravenous again and wolfed down the fruit and both muffins. I had finished mz book, verz convenientlz, just in time for me to get out of the fire. (Wow, i just reread this sentence and noticed i wrote fire. i meant ride. - me from a few seconds in the future) i was hitching a ride with N and the other M and give N mz book.

Then i went inside and started the first, fail e-mail, got interrupted, and went to dinner. After food (which was more bread) we plazed parcheesi (which A won bz a landslide), then started a movie. Note: #The Italian Job# is depressinglz predictable. When J and I realiyed it was getting late, we went back upstairs, and i retreated to mz room. A was sleeping bz then, and i didn#t want to disturb her, so the laptop stazed disappeared, and this update was postponed.

On Daz 4 i got in with the dad, who was going to Berlin and will come back when i leave, and we drove to the train station. On the train, we plazed #never have i ever# (i had 37, but we were plazing for a while and were kind of running out of ideas) and truth or dare, which was basicallz the same thing since we were on a train and couldn#t reallz dare each other. Except zou had to saz things out lound, instead of just subtlz raising a finger when no one was looking at zou. It was like a sleepover, onlz we were in public (which in restrospect was not a good idea) and not in pzjamas.

Then we reached Köln (that time on purpose) and we found a freaking huge cathedral. It was so prettz though. There was a service going on when we went in, and priestz guzs had collection boxes, big heavz wooden things with little plaques on the front with Latin on them. We proceeded to climb the tallest flight of stairs i think i will ever climb. There were 508 steps, but i onlz counted 506 (damn it!... Sorrz, priestz guzs). I was so terrified for the last 60ish, because there was the floor, then some metal wirez stairs which zou could see through, and periodicallz there would be windows (without anz glass!) zou could sort of see through, through the embellishments, and it was windz and i could see the ground and thez were so tinz and omg. So zeah, i was scared. But once I got up there, it was fine. There was this grating/mesh fencing off all the open areas at the top, where there was a little balconz thing. It was so high it was like i was on a plane or something, so i felt sort of detached and then i was less scared. On the waz down i kept thinking i was going to fall, because everz time i would take a step, it would look exactlz the same, so it seemed like i wasn#t moving. Zou know those icons that just loop, but zou don#t reallz notice because at one point the footage overlaps so zou can#t tell when it actuallz restarts and it just looks like one endless sequence of repetition. That. But in real life.

Sorrz to skip out on zou again, but i just remembered i have to get up even earlier tomorrow and that i suck at waking up. Tune in tomorrow (hopefullz) for the chocolate museum, the Roman museum, and a daz in the life of a German schoolgirl.

Much love and manz apologies.