vier (four)

my day started with fresh rolls (brotchen) from the local bakery for breakfast, which i put the traditional nutella on one side and orange marmalade on the other side.

after breakfast, my aunt and uncle took me to another section of essen called Rüttenscheid, where went to the local saturday flea market to buy some pea soup, strawberries, and flowers for the house. we then walked around a little bit in the area, which was familiar to me, because i had been here two christmas ago with my whole family for the holidays. after, we found our way back to the car and headed back to the house to eat some of the pear soup and get ready for the city tour.

my aunt and i then took the street train to the main station in the city, where we boarded the city bus tour. the two hour bus tour was very cool- i was able to not only learn more about the city, but see some cool historical places here in essen: the old coal stack from the factories, and even the Villa Hügel (the estate of Alfred Krupp, who is related to the elevator and steal company ThyssenKrupp)

after the city tour, we headed back to the house, where i had about 20 minutes to get ready before my cousin daniel picked me up to go to an irish pub to watch the germany vs. italy soccer game with him and some of his friends. germans LOVE their fussball (football- soccer in europe). germany won, which was good and was very cool to see how within ten minutes of the win, the whole city woke up and was partying.

tomorrow i head to minden, another city in germany, where i will visit my great uncle kurt and his daughter, my second cousin elvira. we will spend a couple days in minden and then elvira and i will make our way to leipzig, another german city, to visit her son Mark, where we will spend two days. after leipzig, we will head to berlin for one night, which i am very excited about. after we return to minden late next week, her and i will start on making my summer dresses- yay!