Do you collect anything?
This is a question asked relatively often by penpals, and when I am asked I always answer that I collect magnets from all the places I travel to.
So I thought, why not make a post and show you my (humble) collection? :)
At the moment, all my magnets are collected on an iron door at my dad's house (couldn't take them to Spain, could I?), but when I return to Germany and have a new flat, I plan to paint a wall with magnetic paint and collect them nicely there :)
This is what I have in mind:
Soo, here it starts! I'm going to start with all my magnets I collected in Germany :)
(click on the images to enlarge them and see them better!)
(click on the images to enlarge them and see them better!)
The top two are from Erlangen, the town I've lived in for university for 4.5 years before I went to Spain! The right one is just a general town magnet, and the left one is from the town's annual festival, the "Bergkirchweih". :)
The one below it is from Erlangen's neighbouring city, Nuremberg. In German it's called Nürnberg and it's a town that probably most of you have heard of. It's only about 20km from Erlangen.
On its right is a magnet from lovely Ingolstadt. It's most famous for the Audi factory located there. It's a really lovely Bavarian city on the Danube river. My husband lived there for half a year in 2014 when he did an internship at Audi related to his studies. :) The magnet on the right below this one (with the castle) is from a trip we made from Ingolstadt. The castle is called "Burg Prunn", located about 50km from Ingolstadt and known for a manuscript of the Nibelungs Saga which was found there in the 16th century.
The one below Nuremberg is from Stuttgart! Stuttgart is the capital of the federal "state" of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria's neighbour to the West. My mother- and sister-in-law live there, so it's a city we (used to) visit relatively often. On its right is Hanover! My husband's aunt and uncle live there. It's quite far from where we used to live so we've only visited them there about 4 times during the last 2 years. Last time we went there we went to SeaLife with his two little cousins (also got a magnet there, yay!).
And, last but not least, on the bottom left, a magnet from Munich, Bavaria's capital! I got it when I was there in March to take my written final exam for my BA! ;)
This might look like I haven't seen terribly much of my own country, and that's right! I plan to explore it more when I return next year. I definitely want to see Hamburg and Cologne, and I want to go to Berlin again (used to go there a few times when I was a kid because my uncle used to live there, but I can't remember any of it!).
Of course, I have seen two or three more cities, but that was before I started collecting the magnets ;)
Okay, moving on!
These are my lovely magnets from Greece! I've been in Greece five times because it's where my husband comes from! The ones on the left and on the right in the top row are two of the few magnets I didn't buy myself, and as they don't have anything written on them I can't remember where exactly they are from! :P Another one I didn't buy myself is the one with the cat, it's a present from my father-in-law from his trip to the island of Samos. Left to it is one from lovely Athens! My husband and I went there for 4 days right after Christmas last year, and I absolutely loved it!
In the bottom row, the first one is from Thessaloniki, the city my husband's family comes from. Can you believe I'd been there 4 times before I finally got a magnet the fifth time I went?! Then, a magnet from Thassos, an island I visited with my husband and his dad in 2008 (I think? Might have been 2009...) And finally, on the right, a magnet from Chalkidiki, the famous Greek peninsula with its three "fingers" - I stayed on the middle one ;)
FRANCE!
In 2013/2014, my husband spent a semester abroad in France and these are the magnets he/we collected there. The top one is from Grenoble, the town he stayed in. It's a lovely little town on the edge of the Alps, and the famous river Isere runs through it. :)
On the right are two magnets my husband collected on two trips he made without me :( :( xD
The first one is from Lyon, France's third biggest city located about 100km from Grenoble. The other one is from Chamonix, he got it when he went to see Mont Blanc, the hightest peak of the Alps!
And, most importantly, on the left a magnet from Paris! Paris is a memory very dear to me because that's where I got engaged! I went to visit my then-boyfriend at the end of October 2013 and we decided to make a 3-day-trip to Paris. On the second day we went to see the Eiffel Tower and when we were on top of it he proposed to me :) :)
Now on to my Northern Ireland collection! I went there last year in May with university, and I loved it soooo much! We first stayed in the capital, Belfast (first magnet) and after 2 days went on to Derry/Londonderry (unfortunaltey I had no chance to buy a magnet there and I'm sooo sad about this!). On the way from Belfast to Derry we went along the North Coast, where we made a stop at Bushmills distillery (what a lovely colourful magnet, don't you think!?), the Giant's Causeway (this magnet has to "sit" on the other one, because otherwise it always slides down :D :P ), and other places where there weren't any magnets to buy ;)
From Derry we made a few trips, including one to the Republic of Ireland to see the cliffs of Slieve League (we felt like the Hobbits in Middle Earth, it was so magical!) - which you can see on the bottom left magnet, and to the town of Enniskillen. :) I so wish I could return!
Aaaand we're almost at the end! This is the rest-of-Europe section :D
In 2012, I went on a 5-day-trip to Brussels and Strasbourg with university where we visited all kinds of EU institutions. I really like the waffle magnet from Belgium, but I kinda wish it'd say "Brussels" instead of just "Belgium" :P I also love the stork on the Strasbourg magnet! <3
The one on the bottom right is - obviously - from Barcelona! I went there for 2 weeks in 2012 with my best friend and it's one of my favourite cities ever! I hope to return there while I'm in Spain to show my husband! :)
Lastly, the one on the top left is another one I didn't buy myself. My husband's cousin lives in Amsterdam, and when we were staying in Greece last Christmas, his aunt and uncle went to visit there and when they returned they brought the magnet as a souvenir. :)
This is my only non-European magnet! One of my penpals who lives in LA sent me this with her letter! My collection is mostly about having souvenirs from places I have actually seen but, of course, I always like any magnet, so this one is very welcome in my collection as well! :)
Of course, I immediately had to look for a magnet when I arrived at my new home here in Valladolid, and luckily, I found one! I hope to collect quite a few more during my year here, we plan to visit as many cities as possible! :) Maybe we'll even go to Salamanca tomorrow!
And, for the sake of completion, two non-souvenir magnets. The one on the left is a magnet from my favourite band, Sunrise Avenue (if you don't know them, check them out - they are AWESOME!) :D :D
And the one on the right says "The way is the goal. But sometimes the goal is in the way." (Dunno if this is even remotely idiomatic in English, but well...) xD
Sooo, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into my collection! Does any of you collect magnets, too? Or anything else exciting?
Take care!
-- Theresa
