He held a talk at the university in Magdeburg and then Michael and him went to Leipzig to see the zoo and at the weekend we made it to the salt museum. Six to eight times the year they show how people produced salt for hundresds of years here on the shores of the river Saale.

This salt museum, the Saline, is actually one of the smallest still producing museums in the world. In ancient times the city of Halle, whose name is a celtic word for "salt", was founded here because of at least four wells with salty waters. People heatet the water up in huge pans and the salt crystallised on the bottom. With shovels they took the warm salt out of the pans.

They also added cattle blood to bond the dirt. Then they took out the salt and let it dry -- just as they do it today. The water temperature influences the size of the crystals you get out.

The Halloren, the brotherhood of the salt workers, still sell the salt in all qualities. There are some old families left who are Halloren since ancient times but after some exams everybody can become a Hallore now and participate in their traditional celebrations as important part of the city life. The salt is also part of some delicacies here, for example Halloren cake and also meat and sausages of course. The museum itself is very traditional and technical, it is nicer when they show how people worked hundreds of years ago. Moritz rings a bell like the workers did for break.

We set down to have a coffee and taste some cake. Our friend Andrea also joined us who now lives in Munich but hopefully moves back near to Leipzig. She used to be Mattis´ daycare teacher and taught him many English words.

Mattis loves pretzels -- the big ones of course with Halloren-salt.

Swaroop stayed almost a week and the boys were quiet busy solving software problems together. It is good to connect with friends from abroad again -- is was good to have you here, Swaroop!

There are three routine duties the kids can earn money with: setting the table brings 10 cents, sorting the clean laundry and putting it in the wardrobes brings 50 cents and getting rolls from the bakery at the weekend also earns 10 cents. First the wages were lower and even my own mother held a speech about slavery and exploitation of labour, so I raised the wages not risking a strike. Now Charlotte who is more diligent earns about 2 Euros the week. Moritz is not that keen on money yet but he is a big saver while Charlotte likes to spend hers for sweets. And I have to say there is no negotiation or whining when it is clear that everybody has to do his share.

By the way it makes life really easier if the kids do proper work in the household. I can put a note on the table for Charlotte and she goes shopping, does the laundry and so on. And look how diligent they work.

We only have to work on the smiles they should show while labouring. I admit it is a fountain of joy for the parents but it teaches life, right.

Michael put in a new wooden floor as in our new bedroom. We carried her old bunk bed up from the basement and it fits very well in the room. My brothers girl-friend donated the sun-lamp. The chamber is about 10 square meters big -- I think the right size for a kids room. Charlotte chose a new carpet -- and meant, this one wood be a flying one if she wishes it to be.

There is one window that lets enough light in and fortunatley her desk, that I found at the bulky waste container, fits by inch in the corner.

She had to choose the stuff from the kids room that she wanted to take with her. Some like the PLAYMOBIL toys had to stay as there is not enough room. So she took books, toy horses and her doll house that my father made for her.

Charlotte still is a big fan of all kind of birds. She astonished us all by knowing most of the birds that came to our bird feeder in Hanover. So she now has a little bird house in front of her window and really the black brids who are breeing at the moment come to her window and eat. I convinced her to look for some wall decoration. I like "wall tattoos" and she chose birds that came out to look like quite realistic.

Until she discovers youth magazines and silly posters -- I will enjoy little colourful birds "singing" on her walls.

Anyway we finished the redecorating of our apartment and are now able to participate in a social life again. There are still two suspicious boxes in the living room that wait but we successfully ignore them. As always there were more things to do than we expected. We also had to substitute our fridge and our dishwasher which were both dying after ten years of loyal service. And there is the dryer which I will never miss again. The next project are the plant boxes on the balcony. For now we don´t want to move.

Thank you so much, Liam, Eamon, Colleen and Margaret! We miss you!

It is a huge event with a magnificent light show. The whole arena is a sand carpet for the horses and the animals are unique. The trainers are artists and do an amazing job. The "play" mostly is a very simple story that just builds a frame for the dressages.

This time the story was about a boy wandering in the world and finding himself in different countries and cultures. So was the music and it was quiet impressive that the horses are so used to thousands of people watching them. They are really well trained. This Italian trainer even managed to lead twelve horses without a rope or horsewhip.

Of course there were also special single animals like Iceland ponies or these circus horeses.

After about tow hours the people and horses were exhausted of all the music and lights. And I have to admit it was nice to see these elegant animals dancing and for Charlotte it must have been great. She was almost speechless and when she turned to me she asked if we could go next year again. Sure -- if I can efford the ridiculous ticket prices again.