Today was special because all the churches were open to visitors. Jutta, Stephan, and I went into downtown Wesel to climb the church tower, a feat that they, let alone I, have never accomplished until now.
There were 216 stairs up the tower. Or so said the people working there. I had to take their word for it, because I lost count at "sechs-und-zwanzig." 
The view at the top was spectacular. Too bad it was a foggy day.
We walked through a flea market that was set up in downtown afterwards. It was fascinating. My favorite part was the free samples food stands would give you. They were huge! One lady actually gave me half of a huge pastry, and then offered me another bunch of pastries to try. We found some Berliners, too. The lady selling them didn't seem to understand what was so funny.
Mmm...Bratwurst mit Senf!
Apparently today is "Blumenkamp Sonntag" (that's the city that we live in) so a concert was being set up in the market place. It's popular with the teenagers.
I was supposed to attend it with some people from school, but there were some complications so that didn't happen. Instead, Jutta and Stephan took me into Xanthen, a city across the Rhine. Xanthen is one of the old Roman cities in Germany. It has an old windmill and church, both of which we got to explore.
The windmill was running today, which was lucky. We got to climb and watch the gears spin and the grain being ground. Near the top, though, the ladder was blocked with a sign that warned of the dangers of the powerful gears connected to the windmill.
No need to read the sign, the picture says it all! 
Stephan and the windmill
We were in the church in Xanthen when it was time to ring the bell at 6:15. They let me help.
That bell weighs close to, if not more than, a ton. It wasn't easy work, and we had to pull it for five minutes. At the end, the man in charge of ringing the bells let us hold on to the rope as it lifted us into the air. You could probably clear over 6 feet with it if you grabbed the rope high enough.
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