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Frühlingsbepflanzung um den Brunnen "Rettung aus Seenot" vor dem Schweriner Hauptbahnhof. www.svz.de/deutschland-welt/mecklenburg-vorpommern/mecklenburg-vorpommern-mecklenburg-magazin/artikel/skandal-um-nackte-auf-dem-markt-40415975?noredirect=true

Unser Pfingstausflug durch Nordwestmecklenburg führte uns zufällig zu diesem Hexenhaus, wo es außer Kaffee und Kuchen auch "handgemachte" Musik zu hören gab.

Kasteel de Haar (The Haar Castle) is one of the most visited castles in the Netherlands. Originally it was named Het Huys te Haer . However the current Gothic fairy-tale castle was built between 1892 and 1912 with incorporation of the large 15th century ruins of the original castle. Kasteel de Haar was first mentioned in 1391 along a blind arm of the river Rhine. Originally the owner was a member of the “Van de Haar” family. In 1449 the castle became property of the “Van Zuylen” family through the marriage between Josyna van de Haar and Dirk van Zuylen. Several families owned the castle until 1890 when baron “Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt”, inherited Kasteel de Haar (by then the castle had been in a ruinous and desolate state for almost two centuries). In 1887 Etienne had married the French baroness Helene de Rothschild (member of the extremely wealthy De Rothschild family), which enabled him to rebuilt the castle. In 1892 the rebuilding of Kasteel de Haar started under the direction of the well known Dutch architect Cuypers. It's his interpretation of the ‘medieval’ castle one can see today. The interior was rebuilt in a un-Dutch luxurious style, it was equipped with electricity and the former courtyard, covered with a large roof, was turned into an imprerssive central hall. The interior is luxuriously decorated with a large but incoherent collection of valuable antiques from all over the world. In 2000 the ownership of the castle was transferred to “Stichting Kasteel de Haar”. This foundation worked to transform the place into a museum and event center. The castle has 200 rooms - although not all of them can be visited. A couple of rooms are arranged with realistic displays to show how the castle would have looked like in his days of parties. Nowadays Kasteel de Haar is (almost) open daily for visitors.

Schiedam is home to the seven largest windmills in the world. Once there were more than 30 mills in the city. The majority of the so called ‘brandersmolens’ (malt mills) ground grain for the distilleries. To catch enough wind within the built-up area, and for greater storage and production capacity, the mills grew to be the tallest in the world. They have been joined in this century by two new mills, bringing the total number of malt mills to seven. These remaining ‘Giants of Schiedam’ are still characteristic of the city. De Walvisch (The Whale) is one of the ‘Giants of Schiedam’. The mill was built in 1794 and the foundation stone-layer was distiller A. Nolet. The mill was named after the Greenland whaling industry that flourished in the late 18th century. Around 1900, the mill lost a piece of inner rod during a storm; it took eight months before it had four sails again. In 1928, it was sold to the then young association De Hollandsche Molen from Amsterdam. In December 1938, there was a fire in De Walvisch. In 1996 De Walvisch burned down due to a short circuit. Only the rump of the mill remained standing. Thanks to many actions by Schiedam companies, institutions and citizens, the restoration of De Walvisch had been made possible. In 2002 it was grinding agin. De Walvisch nowadays is owned biy the foundation Stichting De Schiedamse Molens . This foundation started a major renovation in 2017. A year later the mill became a museum, where one get to know the malt and roasting mills of the city. Fromf the stage - 17,5 meters high - there is a beautiful view over Schiedam. There is also a mill shop where one can buy flour and other baking products for instance.