Category Archives: Our cute son

Crazy Euopean People, Crazy Germans, Our cute son

Duck Race Neumünster

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Today was the annual duck race in my hometown. As you might have read in many other blog posts is the fact that here in my hometown is barely anything to do with the exception of a few events a year. One might say that they roll up the sidewalks here in the afternoon. This means that having such event is pretty much one of the main activities for the people here. Besides this sunday was also a “Sunday Shopping Day” as normally shops are closed on Sundays. This year marked also the 12th anniversary of this event here and was celebrated with tons of activities for children.

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Shortly after the start of the event

So what is this duck race? Basically it is a “race” of rubberducks down the pond and stream here in this town. Duck Races can be found all over the world but thus far I have only visited this one here. Any person can purchase a duck for a few Euros and gets a number for the duck. By buying one of this ducks you can participate in this race and have the chance to win some nice things such as a 2000€ travel voucher, a new TV etc. The avail of this event is later on donated to some charity programs.

The race starts by pouring all the ducks from a container which is lifted by a crane into the pond. The pond and the little river have a little race track/ plastic barriers so that the ducks follow a specific route till they arrive at a bridge few hundred meters away. Depending on the weather the whole competition might take 20 minutes or even several hours! This year we missed the start of the race as little Nathan took his sweet time waking up from his nap so we arrived few minutes too late. But we were still early enough to see the beginning of the race when all the ducks were massed up before slowly spreading all over the race track.

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Ducks racing towards the finish line

The pond and the river are at a little park located in the center of Neumünster and everywhere some attractions were offered for kids. Especially the radio controlled helicopters and ships  interested many fathers as well (me included)! Somehow I feel like purchasing an own radio controlled helicopter now myself to harass some of the annoying neighbours but I guess that would be a bad idea…

It is too bad that Nathan is still too young to fully understand everything around him and enjoy some of the attraction for the children such as the jumping castle, some little animals from the zoo or the before mentioned radio controlled vehicles. Anyways this event seems to be going strong and I have no doubt it will still be held once Nathan is old enough.

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Some of the radio controlled vehicles

Have you visited a Duck Race in your region or during travels?

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Crazy Germans, Our cute son

The Magical Park

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Nearby our home is a little park just few walking minutes away. Right from the beginning I need to say that there is usually nothing magical about this park except when you are a child or an adult looking from a different perspective than you are used to. This summer I went there with Nathan for a little walk to pass by time and thankfully I had my camera with me.

Itself the park is in a not so good condition anymore however there are still some nice spots. The whole area has been planted back in 1894 on old farmland which surrounded the city. Now over 100 years later are still few points where the old structure of the farmland can be seen such as old  brick paths or also the hedge bank surrounding the fields grown over by trees.

 

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Nathan on his way

This picture reminds me of a song from one of my favorite books.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter 1:

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

 

 

 

Have you found any ordinary places which changed when looking from a different perspective?

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Crazy Family, Crazy Germans, Our cute son

The Fair next door

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Next to our building is a big square which is usually only visited by people taking their dogs out for a walk. But few times a year some events are taking place such as a circus stopping there, some puppet shows or a fair. Three times a year a fair is opened for several days with food stalls, some games and amusement rides. Depending on the season the size varies especially now during summer as most people are in holidays the fair is rather small.

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The Polyp in Action

I still remember the fair during my childhood days. It was a huge event and the square was filled to the maximum and there were so many people on the pathways that it took a long time to go around. There were even sometimes rollercoaster and other thrilling rides but this all changed. We went to the fair few days ago and it was shocking for me to see how few people were going around. Only half the square was used and there were so few food stalls and amusement rides that it was like a different world compared to my youth. At first we had planned to let Nathan try out some of the rides for children but we realized that there were barely any rides for him to try out. I guess this just shows how the world is changing and how the interest of people shifted as well. I must say ‘back in the day’ it was a major event in this city and people came even from the surrounding countryside but now it is just some small thing and barely anyone considers going there.

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Nathan in the ‘Crazy Carpet’

So we went around the fair watching together with Nathan few of the  amusement rides. This was one of the time were we wished MIL would be here so we could go on one of those as Nathan is still too small to join us. Towards the center of the fair we finally found one ride my wife could go together with Nathan. The “Crazy Carpet” was basically similar to a small ferris wheel spinning around and around for a while. Nothing too exciting but it was surely very exciting for Nathan as he even was a bit scared. Back in June during the city festival we went to the big ferris wheel and he didn’t care at all but I guess he got scared now as the whole thing was moving faster than the slow ferris wheel. The entire time the smell of grilled food was in the air and in between the sweet smell of sweets such as honey glazed almonds. We surely wanted to eat some of these delicious foods however we just couldn’t as we just ate dinner before going there.

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Barely any people these days

 

Nathan was amazed by everything there. Watching the amusement rides, the music, the strange sounds and of course the people around. For me this fair was always a wonderful place and I used to watch how they build everything up within a couple of days. I guess it will be similar for Nathan later but then again the fair is just not such a big thing anymore and who knows how it will be in another five years. I also realized that the people changed compared to my younger years. There were many people drunk or on their way  getting there by drinking the booze they brought there. Police was present, security guards everywhere and medics as well.. I remember last year they were announcing that it had been a good fair as there were only a couple of fights and not too many people needing medical attention due to drinking too much. I checked then what they wrote 15 years ago about the fair and oh wonder, no fights, no one needed medical attention however they wrote that once again a visitor record had been broken, things just change…

Today I asked a boy we give English lessons about going to the fair. His response was ‘Why would anyone go there? It’s just boring’

Are there fairs around your area and did they change also over the years as in my hometown?

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