Day 58: In a Galaxy Not So Far Away

We found a very neat little gem in the midst of a very random place today…

Alicia got home from a trip to Hastings sometime in the wee hours of the morning, so when Brandon and I got up, we could hear Alina and Peter were awake, but they were not yet downstairs before we headed out the door today. On the agenda was going to Mönchengladbach, which is a town about an hour and half’s worth of train travel time away from Hattingen. We were going to a place called Stars of the Galaxy (which I will give more details on later).

The train trips to Mönchengladbach were good. We encountered quite a number of football fans headed to the game today, so that was an interesting time. When we got there, we had to take a short bus ride to the area of town where Stars of the Galaxy is located. What is Stars of the Galaxy, exactly? That’s a great question! The best way I can describe it is a collector’s museum of Star Wars stuff. Genuinely, it was like someone (or multiple someones) gathered together all the Star Wars memorabilia over many many years and created their own small museum to display all their things. To be fair, it was not messy or unorganized. It was incredibly cool to see signed photos from actors, limited edition figures, props, busts, full-sized models, scale models of key scenes from the Star Wars movies, and so many other things. It just felt so random for this kind of place to be in the midst of a town that arguably didn’t seem to have anything else outside of a typical small city (mall, restaurants, football stadium, etc.). The exhibit, though multi-leveled, did not take a very long time to go through. There were also some neat setups that were designated as Photo spots, including a replica of the scene with Greedo in the cantina (SW fans know the one).

After we finished with our Star Wars adventure, we went to the local mall for lunch and to wander around. I had already fallen asleep on the train to Mönchengladbach, and by the time we finished lunch and wandering, I was extra very tired, so we made our way back to Hattingen.

Coming back to the house, we were (aka I was) shocked to have the alarm go off when we entered the house. I jumped and freaked out a little bit, but it soon turned off and Brandon and Alina determined the police would not need to be sent by (lol). He and I played cards for a little until Alina, Peter, and Alicia got back — bringing with them a big box. Peter had bought a new grill, so it became a semi-group project in working together to construct it ahead of dinner time. Eventually, it was just Peter and Brandon doing the work as Alicia and I played a game on my phone together and Alina prepped food.

The grill came together, and so did we to eat :) We asked Alicia about her trip and Brandon pretended to eat the plush ice cream cone she bought us (it was very unexpected, but incredibly appreciated!). We all talked for several hours, eventually having to move inside because it was cooling off so much. It was a lovely (and late) evening :)

Tomorrow, everyone has something on the agenda for some portion of the day, but Brandon and I will also be whipping out our chef skills, so stay tuned and enjoy the photos!!