day 1,  2,  3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,  9

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(Day 6) 17 March 2005

Jever

We stayed at a lovely guest house, the Hotel-Pension am Elisabethufer, the best we found in the entire holiday. The owner was very friendly and lent Charles lots of toys to play with! In the morning, she also gave him some stale bread to feed the ducks, geese and swans on the lake opposite.

The picture on the right shows an old ducking cage. In olden days, miscreants would be locked in the cage then ducked in the pond. This would be worth reviving. I can think of plenty of people who would be vastly improved by a good ducking.

Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven is a deep water port, built by Kaiser Wilhelm I in the late 19th century. Many of the great German naval ships were built here, and there were submarine yards and a seaplane base. There is still a big naval base and the docks can handle large cargo ships and oil tankers, such as the one pictured.

 Cloppenburg

Luz very kindly drove us to a museum of rural life in Cloppenburg, about 40 miles south of Wilhelmshaven. There are several houses, furnished to represent different eras of farming life, three different styles of windmill, old farm machinery, and the odd animal! It was a fascinating day.

Inside the house

Old fireplace with the trivet on which a kettle would have hung over the fire to boil.

Old stone sink; it would have been filled from pails drawn from the well.

Beautifully furnished dining room in grand 18th century style.

Lenette in a late 19th century small farmhouse kitchen.

A more austere style of dining room typical of smaller farms in the 19th century.

Ivy in a traditional farm bedroom, simple and tasteful.

Charles paying close attention to the lecture! Luz supervising.

Lenette and a brightly painted door into a cupboard-bedroom.

Around the Village

Mr & Mrs Mallard

Charles learning how to use the interactive historical tour...

... and being shown how to drive a traction engine.

Very elaborate structure of a mediaeval house.

A collection of very early tractors.

Very simple village church

Lenette signing the visitor's book

A post windmill (where the entire mill pivots on a post to turn the sails into wind).

Oldenburg

After walking round Cloppenburg, we came back to the local regional town of Oldenburg. This has a nice centre but the chief attraction for Ivy was shopping. Home at last!!

Schortens

We went back to Lenette & Luz's house for another lovely supper and a relaxing evening. Lots of food and good company, talking until the small hours. A good end to a very good day.