Monday, July 28, 2014

Merdingen, Ihringen, A Party and Bruce's Wheels


We were coming home on the tram the other day and a woman got on with four children, looked like she was well on the way to have a fifth. I can’t tell the age of children, but they were all small, eldest looked about five. She admonished them when they got noisy, but was rather calm about it and seemed to handle them well, but goodness me, having five children!

Went to Merdingen to see another Baroque church, St. Remingius, seems many of these small towns have them and I continually wonder how they are funded. 
Fuzzy picture, too much zoom, but see the sculpted legs! Mural with a difference and someone's sense of humour.

This one was being renovated on the exterior, recently been done to the interior. Another WOW as I entered the church, understanding Dawna’s fascination so much more now.

Very stern looking youngster.
More statues
And more... Bored yet? Last one.
Headed for a restaurant for lunch in Ihringen  but it only opens for dinner, Christoph had been there and said it was top notch. But the proprietor said her daughter could do us well in her own restaurant and most certainly did it was called holzoefele.de, restaurant and Weinstube. (Sorry to note names of these places sometimes since it cannot be very interesting, but I use this blog as a remembering for ourselves and others should they ever visit.) Food was excellent!

Grape vines and flowers.

Aside, as inquired on an earlier blog, why so many towns are “ingen” named. It apparently means ‘descendants of”. It is however a very loose translation depending on town and timing of when the town was named of course.

Grape terraces on a cloudy day, such even rows!
Bruce’s new wheels. We were downtown, came back to a notice in the mailbox that the bike had been delivered. Written in German but so poorly we couldn’t translate it. I called the company, scanned the document, they confirmed it had been delivered to the Architect who has his office and residence here. Went to see him and they had stored the bike, huge, very huge box in the washroom on the main floor. Took up most of the big room! So now what? We obviously cannot move it into the flat. We take hours to unpack it, lots of cardboard and it’s on a wooden skid.  Meanwhile curious residents of the building are stopping by offering assistance. Next day we install the batteries which are the size of car batteries, very heavy and Bruce takes it for a spin. He loves it! It’s a scooter the size of a motorcycle but has four wheels, can go up to 15 kms/hr.

I went into our local church for the first time. So very stark and completely unlike, farthest spectrum possible, from the other churches we’ve been in. 


Modern, boxy, multi-denominational, with a sliding panel floor to ceiling to make two rooms for two sermons. Learned it is unusual in many ways, architecture, multi denominational, which is why they were allowed to build it when many churches suffer from declining participation.

Stadtteilfest in Rieselfeld at the church square. We went for lunch and decided to stop for a beer at this function. Music provided on stage by school children, lots of booths advertising various products and service organizations. Shared tables as is custom here at festivals especially. We struck up a conversation with a couple and their teenage son. Very enjoyable couple, we learned a lot about the neighbourhood and they learned about Canada. She had lived in the States but their knowledge of Canada was minimal. He had been to Toronto, decided he wanted to go to Vancouver, looked on a map and thought might be a day getting there, so funny, and such a common misconception about the size of Canada.

We were invited to a party in the building – yeah! Their flat is decorated modernly but they also make use of their winter garden as a patio, lots of plants and furniture. Learned more today about German customs. Let’s start at the entry, you don’t take off your shoes and the hosts wear shoes also.

With my gift, I was going through the doorways sideways, look out, wide load coming through! Our gift to them was over the top, but I can only hope that others knew each other so well they didn’t indulge, don’t know. Was advised by two people about what to bring…  So I bought local Gladiolus, hence the wide load, I arranged them cross wise on the basket, French red wine, two jams made by a company that sells out of the Munstermarkt, chocolate “made for wine” and a basket to carry it all in. Spent a bit of time arranging and making it as pretty as possible with my somewhat limited resources and actually was pleased with the result. Jurgen the host has been most kind to Bruce regarding the bike the last few days, if it’s over the top for a social function, I don’t feel bad, a bit of pay back for his kindness.  

There is a core group of three couples here who are very friendly to us foreigners and to our partners as well. Erwin has played pool with them while here. They speak English well and while sometimes need to search for a word it is far better than our German so we appreciate their efforts. Bruce includes all German he knows back to show respect.

I saw four rabbits cavorting in the field early one morning! Put the binoc’s on them to confirm. Lovely to see them chasing each other.

Back at the Mundenhof, we keep going as it is a good five or so kilometere walk for me and always something different that is animal related. Monkeys this time were diving and swimming to chase each other in a pool left by the heavy rain we’d had. Entry was a jump of the rock to belly-flop in. Very fun to watch them having lots of fun.

Starting to get organized since we've only got a week left in Freiburg, then on to Switzerland. Lists are my friends again, they help me not to forget anything and that has a calming effect on me. I know some would say, "why make a list, just pack it". Getting out suitcases early makes Lexi anxious longer than need be, at least that's my excuse...

Will keep blogging, may not have time until we get to Lausanne but will from there for sure.

Cheers, Bx2 & Lexi Cat

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