Cologne

Festive Tasks: Door 1, Task 1 – Of Chocolate, Cathedral Architecture, and Veerry Old Bones
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Task 1: In Australia, it’s common to brag about having the “biggest ‘X’ in the Southern Hemisphere!” Biggest mall, biggest prawn (don’t ask), biggest pineapple, biggest earthworm. What does your country / city / region brag about having the best or the biggest of …? I’ve never […]
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Festive Tasks: Door 1, Task 4 – Walled in by Books
Master Update Post HERE Task 4: Australia has the world’s longest fence, the dingo fence, which at 3,436 miles (5529.7 kilometres) beats the Great Wall of China. Using an average of 12 books / meter, or 4 books / foot as a guide, if you had to build a fence of your own to […]
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Heinzelmännchen
24 Festive Tasks: Door 23 – Hogswatch, Task 2: A Cologne legend dating all the way back to the Middle Ages has it that once upon a time, there was a race of busy little household gnomes called Heinzelmännchen who would come at night and secretly do all your work: If there ever has been […]
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Glingleglingleglingle
24 Festive Tasks: Door 23 – Hogswatch, Task 1: Glingleglingleglingle – if you could wish any kind of god(dress) into existence, what would they be in charge of? Dusting? Weeding? We’re not aiming high here… tell us! The Cologne “Heinzelmännchen” fountain: detail A Cologne legend dating all the way back to the Middle Ages […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Final Tally
The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed Joker cards used: The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and All Saint’s Day: A book that […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Updates / Blackout
I’ve yet to read at least one book for some of the squares, but I’ve completed a minimum of either one book or one task for all of the squares, and in several cases, more. The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed […]
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November 11 in the Rhine Valley — Yet Another Sort of Holiday … and Party! (Also: Task for Square 11 of the “16 Festive Tasks”: Soyal)
In the Rhine Valley, where I live, November 11 has yet another meaning, in addition to (and even more so than) the two holidays we included in the “16 Festive Tasks”: 11/11, 11:11 AM marks the opening of the carnival season, which ends roughly three months later on Ash Wednesday (this season: Feb. 14, 2018), […]
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The Twelve Tasks of the Festive Season — A Visit to the Christmas Market
… aka Tasks the First, the Sixth, and the Twelfth: The Winter Wonderland, the Hanukkah, and the Wassail Bowl. – If you are lucky enough to live in a snowy place, or even if you aren’t, take a walk outside and post a picture of something pretty you encountered on your way. – Make a […]
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