Oldenburg – with side trips to Bremen and Hamburg

As I looked out the window of my friends house on arrival I saw this gorgeous creature scampering around in the backyard. I had never seen a brown squirrel before and her prancing around was lively and infectious.

A 10-day trip to visit friends brought us to Oldenburg a university town in northern Germany.   I was also going to meet up with my brother and mother here after almost 6 months.   We reached Oldenburg by train from our last location Rhens.  The country changed its scene from vineyards to farmland.   A Large expanse of the land being farmed with agricultural products.  It was lovely to see the green fields in varied shades.  We were greeted at Oldenburg Station by my friend and my brother.  It was nice to be welcomed and a luxury to be driven home.  We had not sat in a car since leaving California in July.  Once we reached home, my mother was there and life was complete in my little world.

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We talked and chatted about old times, schools and teachers who taught us.  It was going down memory lane and reliving the past with old friends and family.  Our friend has a lovely house that he has recently bought and renovated.  It had a big backyard.  On our second evening there, he said, "we are all going to play Croquet today". I had never played Croquet before and he said he would explain the rules.  So, after explaining the rules we played a fun game not one but two rounds that gave us giggles as we played and made us look back on our younger days when we lived in the same town together.  We bonded once again with our mother being our center of the universe.

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We did two side trips in those 10 days, one to Bremen and the other to Hamburg.  We saw the "Bremen musicians" statue in the center of Bremen. A story that I had read when I was in high school.  In Hamburg, I was very interested in seeing "

", a miniature train museum.  We spent 3 hours in this Wunderland and were not disappointed.  The intricate detail of the railways and the locations made it very interesting and so realistic.  Anyone interested in trains and planes should visit this museum.  It is fascinating, the detailed miniature buildings with people, shops etc is all in the landscape.

Our 10 days flew by in Oldenburg and is now a memory that I will cherish forever.  Thanks to my friend Ajay and his wife Sujata who were gracious hosts, we could spend quality time with our mother.  Oldenburg is a nice town with great shopping and a nice pedestrian zone for walking.  We saw this little elephant in boots. Don't you think he is Super?