Brussels - Part One

Street art in Ghent - Laurel and Hardy

Arrival at the flat and our host Linda welcomes us warmly. She stays about an hour showing us around the flat and common areas. The flat is gorgeous! Old fashioned with wood floors, lots of windows, two balconies, one full bath, a shower with sink, toilet with sink, two bedrooms. There is a park across the street and grocery and cafes around, she will take us on a tour of the neighbourhood tomorrow. I think we’ll be happy here for the next 20 days. Did I say the flat is beautiful? Yes, I know, it has an old fashioned worldliness but comfortable. She lives here when it isn’t rented so there are a lifetime of keepsakes from the countries she’s been to. The ceiling lights are each beautiful, like we’ve done in Sevilla. 

Art Deco and Lexi who isn't

The neighbourhood is somewhat condo alley but building types mix between quite old and new, this building is 1953, she has lovingly maintained the ambiance of the era and furnishings reflect that. The space is bright and breezy once we open the doors to the two balconies. The windows do have a ledge so we keep them closed. Temperatures have been mid to low 20’s so heat for Bruce is not a problem.  We were so lucky to have found this flat and host.

Our host Linda takes Bruce around the neighbourhood and YES there are cafes and shops within a short distance, exactly what we need. Tram and buses stop close by too so we can get into the old town. As usual it takes a couple of days to stock the fridge and get used to the neighbourhood, then we'll venture out to sightsee. 

Lexi likes it here, lots of windows to see birds from and she can join us outside after we held her (tightly) over the balcony to show her there was a deep drop and nothing to jump to. She reacted strongly by drawing back into our arms, good! She is such a jumper, almost flyer, analyses her landing point carefully and decides if safe or not. To get down she almost walks the wall like a spider and when landing says a soft whooft. 

French is the main language here but almost everyone speaks English also. I can use a bit of my high school French, admittedly a small amount but at least I can be polite. 

We went to a Bio store today, Bio meaning organic, the fruit and veg were wonderfully fresh. They had large containers filled with every type of liquid imaginable, even tamari (distilled soy) sauce, which I promptly spilled on the floor. So I asked for paper towel to clean it up which they seemed to appreciate although sounds like it happens often. There is also a Carrefour in the area, major European grocery store, definitely without the charm of the Bio but handy.

Linda came by to drop off a key to the “maid’s room” where there is a power point to plug Bruce’s wheels into, the chair is a bit big for the elevator, elevator is another story, you see the floors as you are rising, no cage as such. She put me in touch with a woman in the building who knows someone who gives her a good pedicure. The woman is of Russian background and a Princess, there we go! I met a Princess. Anyway her English was quite good and she told us a story of connecting with an uncle in Moscow after the war. 

Got a pedicure, found a printer for a document we need to sign and scan but no scanner, actually I think the fellow just didn’t know how to use it. Bought cards and postage for birthdays coming up. Bought Lexi food. So we accomplished a lot but not all the errands.

Weather goes from cloudy to sunny every few minutes but it is in the low 20’s so is comfortable without a coat, very much appreciated!  

Linda had taken Bruce into the big park next door so we packed up some sandwiches and drinks for a picnic, which we haven’t done in a while, but is always lovely. 

Park keeper's house

This is Park Duden and there is a summer program happening this year called parckdesign.be Wandered through the park to find the bandstand which operates as a club at night, - amendment - the pavilion is part of the program, has an information booth, a distillation laboratory and they host workshops there. 

Admittedly not my best picture but this area holds 30 different species of plants.

There is a small cafe over looking the garden planted with plants the Society distills from. There is much talk in the brochure of how people interact with nature etc. Anyway, go to the website, there is an English button if interested.

There was a very large furry dog that resides at the cafe, the waitress was trying to train it to jump over a stick between two chairs, well it tried a couple of times, but really the stick was much more fun to play with!

King Leopold, patron to the park

Then trying to make it back to the flat we got lost and saw a lot more of the park than intended for sure and some more interesting streets, uphill slog for most of it. Bruce had to plug in his chair on return and I wished for a plug in for my legs. The park is actually gigantic and has trees in it from all over the world.

Another shop day and we have lunch at a boulangerie, French for a bakery, so I decided since waffles are big here why not try some? When in Rome and all that, well they are terribly sweet and not to my taste at all. Bruce bought chocolate from the bio store, it’s located on a table complete with hammer and you have to hit hard to get a piece of the slab, good, not sweet, real cocoa flavour and with red wine, yummy! 

So now we’ve bought two of the many staple foods here in Belgium, (three if you remember the chips, four the mussels) as we do in countries visited. Food tours would be lovely as many bloggers write about but with Bruce’s chair, not sure how practical. We’ve been munching on cherries but the season seems to be pretty much over now, as it is in Canada. Well you win some and lose some but trying is important because we learn something about the country we are in by doing so. 

A few of the restaurants and businesses are closed in this area for summer holidays. As we will likely find in Paris, people flee the cities in the summer, well everywhere really. 

Yikes, wondering why our bill was quite large at the bio store today and found that we paid 19+ Euro for two hundred grams of coffee! The last time we bought coffee there it came in a tin and I’m sure didn’t cost that much. However this is ground on site with an ancient machine and I suppose they are charging for the allure of it, yikes again, save me the allure please, won’t be doing that again unless it tastes like nectar. Talk to you tomorrow and let you know, because you can bet I’m using up every bit of it. Tastes good but not That good!

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Ghent, Brugge and on to Brussels

We train Freiburg to Koeln, transfer there which was a bit of a snafu, won’t go into detail, boring, but it caused Bruce to get extremely heated, station hot with no ventilation and a forty five minute wait, not good for Bruce. Koeln to Brussels to a very grand looking hotel the Royal Windsor, well lobby is lovely and grand, rooms okay for one night.

Brussels to Ghent and we miss the train because no one shows with a ramp. Apparently we have to announce that we are there, while we haven’t before, new rules, new place. Oh well, once we did get help it was minutes until the next train arrived and bonus, very much less crowded so it all worked out. 

Oh, in most of Brussels people speak French, in Ghent it’s Flemish, a way to knock one into a completely different language for sure, but many speak English, because outside of Flanders who the heck would know Flemish? Bruce really insulted a Flemish person by speaking French, the twain do not meet here.

Wheelchair taxi is not available but a taxi driver was so very kind and helped us out, told Bruce how to get to the flat by driving the chair and put me, the luggage and Lexi in a cab. Now that was a bit worrisome, but we all made it to the flat okay. The garden patio area is being painted right now, painter Shaun is originally from Ireland so we had great conversations with him. 

Painter Shaun in action

We talked at some length with Shaun, who is Irish/Belgian. Immediate bond came about which happens sometimes. I love it when that happens! He has views of the world similar to ours, is a hard worker, nice person, even brought us a bottle of wine. Just a worldly, kind and generous person, yippee, I think we’ve made a new friend. He has a friend who he visits in Rhonda, Spain which is an hour from Sevilla so he may come visit us there. His birthday is November 23 so thinking ahead, a birthday celebration for him and I, our group, his friend and hopefully his girlfriend. What a treat to meet more people all at once through a good fella. 

The flat in Ghent  has no view of the river, which made me select it in the first place, due to grown grass, a shame. But there also doesn’t seem to be much traffic on this section of the river so maybe it doesn’t matter too much. Flat is below ground and quite a walk to the shops so don’t know how long we’ll stay. The host has eight cats and sometimes strays as well so it was an interesting time with Lexi. She’s already encountered a small female, she “wants to rip her head off” mostly because we are outside smoking and she’s inside without us. I don’t think this flat is “typical” for anywhere and so it is both charming and not as comfortable as I’d hoped. Actually it is comfortable, it’s the distance to shops and cafe’s that is the real problem. Anyway, we gathered our flagging energy and did a shop. This area of town is quite industrial so there are no cozy cafes or pubs around that we can see first off, actually we may not stay.

Decisions, decisions, when traveling you always have those even when booked ahead and especially when it doesn’t quite fit. Remember us in Zurich up the mountain in Utlieburg? We stayed too long there and life is too short to stay in a place you’re not comfortable with, it wasn’t bad, just not good either, same here in Ghent. Okay, I’ll take some blame, must be more careful about distances to shops and both those places we stayed are too far away. We will meet our hosts tomorrow but Anna and Simon have been doing a good job to make sure we are comfortable. My review of this flat will be a good one but will note if you have any difficulty walking or using a wheelchair perhaps another place would be better.

Here’s our new plan hatched today, two days before we go, we’ve always wanted to go to Brugge due to the movie “In Bruges” (a rather dark film really) and it’s a half hour train trip from Ghent. (There are so many spellings of Brugge, I am using what they use there.) Going Sunday and Monday and treating ourselves to a rather swanky hotel on the river, which we didn't get a view of... see a pattern here? We’ll come back to Ghent basically to pack up and leave for Brussels. 

Sorry to say Ghent was a bust for us, due to us, not the city, sorry Ghent! Another reason to leave is the next two weeks is a world wide (knew it was big but not that big!) music festival on in the city. Every accommodation I contacted basically told me “are you nuts or stupid?” people book a year in advance to be here and, well, we just want to leave. 

Ghent to Brugge, Bruce drove to the train station on his wheels, I took a cab with the suitcase and Lexi and we met in front of the station. I rang the bell for ramp assistance after buying the tickets and we were off. Only took about half an hour with one stop. 

In Brugge, Bruce, again, biked to the hotel and I took a cab. He seems to have little difficulty doing that, this time he was armed with a map. 

We came to Brugge for the architecture and everywhere you look you get a complete eyeful! Beautiful and unique and old. I took many more pictures but uploading on a slow connection is like watching paint dry...

The Cathedral and canal at the bottom

We got our fill and found places we’d seen in the movie that made us want to come here. 

I don't know what this statue indicates except love but I liked it.

There are many squares, especially the Markt which is the most famous. I can say, I have never seen so many selfie sticks, ever, but then we don’t frequent touristy places often and this is definitely one. 

Gold on the City Hall

Still worth coming to for us for a couple of days and then the crowds start to get a bit much and time to leave.

Had a drink at a cafe that only serves drinks and were treated to two young fellows playing pretty good music, in the background the horse carriages clopped by and we had a view of the canal and a breeze running through. What a life, makes me appreciate it all the more. 

The boutique hotel we are emailed prior to our arrival and asked if they could do anything to make our stay more comfortable, offered champagne, chocolates etc. I told a white lie and said it was our anniversary so could we have champagne, they came back with the price, now I’m stuck but since we don’t really celebrate anniversaries it was a treat. We had it on their terrace and they provided strawberries, red currant berries and a couple of petit fours, small cakes, which I’d never tried before, would never buy but were good to try, the petit fours I mean. Champagne named Veuve Clicquot, not something to make a habit of, quite expensive but delicious!

Looks good, tasted better!

We ordered salmon lox with parsley, red onion on toast points and lemon. All very good, and felt rather upper class while we watched all the sweaty tourists go by waiting for a tour boat. Well, honestly the patio didn’t have much of a breeze so we were sweaty tourists also, just in more pleasant surroundings. 

Seafood is big here and mussels especially. We found a family run restaurant that served mussels in a big pot with the lid used for the shells, Bruce said they were excellent. Belgian fries are also a big deal, and if what Bruce got served yesterday are any indication I didn’t find anything special about them, well cooked - yes, but huh? We did see people in the Markt square eating them up from a fast food place and they looked no different, sorry, don’t get it. There is even a Fries Museum! I suppose I should go there and learn why, but spending time in a Fries Museum, well, not my thing really.

Warning coffee rant coming up, skip if you wish. We had a fancy coffee machine in the room and I thought I knew how to work most of them but this one stumped me this morning and I am Definitely not good without my coffee. Had a grumpy shower, though it was a good one, got grumpily dressed, had a grumpy cigarette, went looking for coffee, need coffee! Found a place on the canal and had one, much less grumpy now and apologies to Bruce for just about ripping his head off, yes, it is that bad. Had the concierge show me how to work the machine for tomorrow, she must have thought I was a complete dolt but never mind, found out I was just too impatient, well that’s a given… Doing a test run this afternoon with the decaf one, what’s the point in decaf? Except before bed perhaps… it worked. Coffee rant over and out. 

Leaving Brugge, Bruce drives to the train and I take Lexi and the suitcase. Trains are running late today but we were lucky the Porter got us on one that we just about had the car to ourselves, luxury! Air-conditioned too and only a half hour trip Brugge to Ghent. So we settle back into the garden space and relax. Brussels tomorrow and it’s about 45 minutes.

Ad campaign for the movie Independence Day, this version is 3-D yikes! The original was scary enough!

Ghent rail station and we’re early so I call for assistance on an earlier train thinking to do a small shop in the Brussels train station before getting the rolling taxi. It worked well, another not busy compartment so cool. July 21st Belgium National holiday meaning stores closed, hence the mini-shop.

Next post Brussels, or the beginning of our time here. We've found a really lovely flat, and lovely host, close to shops and cafes and are very happy for that. 

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

Visit to Colmar, France

On a Sunday we went to Colmar, France by car with Christoph. La-di-dah, okay you are tired of reading that but, again, it just feels that way so get used to it. As you can see it was a cloudy day but warm.

You know these two!

We got lost in Colmar, looking for a restaurant on a stream that runs through the main part of town, well never mind, we did find the restaurant and it’s called le Comptoir de Georges (not that you care about the name but I want it noted for future reference). Tables are on a patio very close to the water and there were tourists going by in small boats. The town has many half timbered houses in multitudes of colours, many with colourful flower boxes on the sills. 

Wine Shop

Lovely roof! 

After lunch we walked close to the cathedral to have a coffee. I went into the cathedral and it was dark and not at all welcoming so I surely didn’t stay long. 

The outside is worth a look and it has a working clock, unusual for most. Being Sunday it was crazy busy in the town so parking was an issue and we were lucky to get a table on the terrace of the restaurant. 

This coming Sunday we’re training to Brussels and the next day Ghent where we’ll be for three weeks. "Talk" to you from there.

Cheers Bx2 and Lexi Cat

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

We went downtown wearing these wrist bands. Of course, no one knew anything about why but we did so that's okay.

Visited Eigan Art a store you've heard about from me before and found this fellow.

Lovely isn't he/she and note the meerkat and hedgehogs

It is a water fountain actually, water comes out of it's trunk! Hmm, if not aimed correctly it could really bother the neighbours but would be cooling.

Just a short note to let you know we haven't forgotten about being proud Canadians.

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Visit to Bad Krozingen and a Crane

Depiction of before they get to the healing baths and after

Went back into the Kaiserstuhl with Christoph on a Sunday. He was a bit later than he wanted to be so first up was lunch, as usual. We decided Greek food at Griechisches Sonne - Corfu, would make a nice change so headed for Bad Krozingen about 15 minutes south of Freiburg by car. Note, we took the bus there the first year and it stopped at all the little villages along the way so it took about an hour but was a very lovely drive. Only problem was our driver was in a hurry I’d guess because he thought he was a race car driver, hmm, not so comfortable in a bus. Took the train back and while not as scenic, only took about 15 minutes. Bad Krozingen is a spa town with many clinics and bath waters to heal all ails. 

Pretty window boxes

Anyway the Greek food was excellent, again, large portions so Bruce and I shared a plate of really nicely cooked lamb. Then we walked a bit and looked at the church which was beautiful. 

Lovely, detailed altar

Then through the water park, water not on, and had a coffee. It was the perfect day temperature wise so nice to be out in it.

Rathaus, or City Hall

Door of the Rathaus, liked the angels, one writing the other playing

Downtown on a sunny day, yippee! Town was busy for a Monday and the Snipes store had a 70% sale on so there were lineups and body guards outside letting in a few at a time. I’ll bet the clerks were pleased about that. We had lunch at a pub next door to it and I’m amazed at the amount of product that left with people. I’ve never been in the store myself but gather it’s mostly trendy running gear which of course is why I’ve never been in! Trendy? running? not I. 

Went up to the Rewe just to get some plums for Bruce, they are especially nice right now, after a bit of walking I headed to the tram stop, Bruce went ahead, then I see him beetling back to me as I’m dragging my butt, to offer a glass of wine, yes please! We are sitting there and a woman started talking to us in English. We figure she may have been a teacher at some point because she gave us some history of the Balkan area where she is from. She was interesting and it was another great encounter. 

The building next to us has been scaffolded over the outdoor stairway since we’ve been back and of course we wondered why because no one ever seemed to work on it. Well I think I saw some painters one day but it’s still shrouded. On a weekday I looked out to find a large crane and several fellows. 

Bruce said it looks like an alien bug!

They were moving large glass panels to the roof of the building. The crane had a machine attached with four large “suction cups” to hold the glass. Hours later and the crane has moved on but the fellows remain doing what? Speculation on our part is they are glassing in the stair case… we'll let you know for those curious.

All for now, Cheers Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Happy Father's Day and Augustiner Museum

Happy Father's Day to those of you that are! Here's a flower for you.

Our monthly trek to Zoo Burkhart for Lexi things. We take a tram then a bus and for once it wasn’t cold and rainy, always has seemed to be in the past, bonus! So you’d think it was her birthday and I suppose it is because we don’t know when it is, we can make it any day we like. Bought a scratching pad, needed, her basic food, a new litter box for travel and treats - yeah treats! They contain malt which is good to get rid of hairballs, treats for her, practical for us. Saves me the notification once in a while - hey mom, hairball for ya, not very nice to clean up.

The girl herself!

Weather has really been the pits, although it’s fairly warm but lots of storms rolling through at intervals not to be predicted. If it rained steadily we would be more inclined to grin and bare it but these short bursts of heavy rain would have us soaked in seconds, I would describe them as squalls. Whine, bitch, and I still can’t do anything about it, just getting it off my chest I suppose. 

We went with Christoph to the Augustiner Museum downtown Freiburg. What a wonderful place to visit! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustiner_Museum The building itself is newly renovated and they have kept the beautiful old planked ceilings, updated what was needed. It’s been under construction the entire time we’ve been in Freiburg, only opened recently. It is four floors of European history, much of it had been in the Munster and to keep the pieces intact they moved the statues and artwork into this climate controlled museum. Much of it also comes from nearby Strasbourg, France and Upper Rhine, and other parts of Germany. I applaud the curator, it is a beautiful, sometimes gruesome, collection of incredibly well executed art by masters of their time.

A surprise awaited us, students from the music school do a final concert on the organ in preparation for them to perform before an audience. Wow! what talent that lady had, essentially four keyboards to play, one with her feet and she moved so much she had to be in good shape to play it. Her partner was the page turner of the scores she played from and also hit a few keys to change tone. Hands and feet flew across the keyboards. They were professional but unassuming and it was a performance like I’ve never seen before and really, really enjoyed. A couple of fellows sat next to me and closed their eyes, best way to really hear the music and made me wonder were they the teachers, were the players judged, did this go for a mark in the course? 

The organ itself had been moved from the Munster and completely restored, floor to ceiling covering about three floors. So where does an organist make a living? Can they?

View from the top floor, yes, that is a pig on a trailer, promotion for vegan eating, seems an odd choice to me.

What I found great was seeing the evolution of paintings and statues, especially the paintings. They were flat and without embellishment in the beginning, didn’t show perspective. You could follow the improvement through the ages, for example, landscapes were added and detail of people’s clothing were added to give a more interesting depiction. 

One row of many rows of statues.

We saw very many saints, lots of Jesus, devils, mostly biblical and that is where Christoph came in and why we hired him to show us. He is a religious person and told us of the history of many of the characters we saw. He’d also talked with the curator to upgrade his knowledge so he had stories to relate about the art. Going on our own would not have been such a rich experience and getting the organ concert was a real bonus! There are three floors of stained glass, some painted as the originals, some real, originals, beautiful and both Bruce and I do like stained glass. 

Not stained glass but beautiful.

Another separate temporary display was of etuis or small boxes that held valuables, which fascinated me because, you probably don’t know this about me, but I like little boxes of any type, these were beautiful!

Lunch at a fav Italian restaurant close by topped off a really lovely and educational day. 

The herd of cattle we get to look at out our windows.

All for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Visit to a Winery and Flowers

Out with Christoph on Sunday, a rather dull day after a storm the night before so we concentrated on Lunch! Not a bad thing to do. We went to Gasthof Krone in Friesenheim, Kaiserstuhl where they do a very good spargel (white asparagus)  lunch, remember the dome from last year? Well we had to sit inside this time, we wanted to sit out but wait staff didn’t want to come out if it rained, can’t blame them. Inside is cosy and noisy, food is a long time coming. We realized later they had put on set menu for French Mother’s Day and there were many French people there. Also there were many old varieties of cars, antiques some of them in the villages we passed through and a wine fest at Ihringen which we took the backroads through coming back. 

Clematis in our neighbourhood

We went downtown to get a couple of specific items. Our plane travel agent had worked with me for flights in the summer, then we went to the train agent, and we’ve booked everything by train, more on that later. So the plane agent didn’t get paid for her time with me and I didn’t think that was fair. She’s a cat lover and has one so I put together a little package for her in thanks for her time. Cat treats, card, Swiss chocolate in a gift bag that had cats on it, natch! Thankfully she wasn’t there and I could drop it on her desk. Bruce learned a while ago while in Japan that the person receiving the gift never opens it in the presence of the giver. That’s in the case if the receiver is disappointed and it shows, the giver doesn't see. Some would call that denial.

After we went to the Munster market and walking by a stall we had many many times before, but today is a spring day and the cacti are in bloom. This lady has been selling there since the first time we went three, no four years ago, and we’ve never really taken it in. Bruce is a self confessed cacti lover and his birthday is tomorrow so I asked him if he wanted one for his birthday. Face lit up and he chose one. 

It’s called a Mammillaria woodaii, common name is old lady cactus, is small, fuzzy, spiny, with pink flowers. The lady uses forceps to pick up the pots, wrapped it carefully in newspaper and a plastic bag and we toted it home. Found a place for it that Lexi can’t get at, don’t want spines in her nose, and decided Ms Cacti needed a name, Maggie it is! Why we’ve determined she is female I haven’t a clue but she is pretty. All this fuss over a cactus, I know, but Bruce is very pleased. Just a little bright spot in a week where it’s been cold and raining mostly. 

I found cards in a store that turn into mini jigsaw puzzles. You write your message on the back and then dismantle the pieces, put them in the envelope and let the receiver put them together. While dismantled they are a bit lumpy so not a good idea to mail that way but I do appreciate the unique idea. At least I think it is, do they exist in Canada?

Walked through streets in our neighbourhood we don’t often see, it’s not all that big a place really but getting to the back roads is interesting due to the multitudes of flowers blooming right now. Judging by the buds we saw, we’re just at the beginning of the season. There are several green spaces here between the box like apartment buildings and many of the areas between sidewalk and road are planted. 

Even the palm tree is flowering.

Bruce wanted Indian food for his birthday so took the long way there. Note to self DO not go through the school ground again, especially at lunch time! How to make a person feel really old and the need to dodge both running kids and balls. Well, this is their playground and I have no right to say a word, I’m the one in the wrong place and time.

At the Shalimar, while waiting to bring home the food I had a pakora, (like a small fried dumpling) expecting one but it was an appetizer dish of several vegetable ones with a couple of lovely sauces and a bit of salad. Also had a mango lassi to drink which was very tasty. They make what Bruce thinks is the best lime pickle ever, they just seem to use whatever vegetable they have, carrot, zucchini, bean and put a lovely sauce on it. He’s bought lime pickle before from the standard Indian spice jars available in grocery stores, I hate it, but this is good. We’ll go back and see if they won’t sell us a jar. What a delight to have good Indian food, of course India is such a large country that the food varies as it does in all countries, we’ll have to find out which part of India these folks are from. This is the sister/brother restaurant to the downtown one that has great reviews. A good birthday for Bruce I think he would say.

These next comments are a bit risqué but I do want to include them due to how well the campaign is done. It is one against AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, done with humour in cartoon like characters. Website www.liebesleben.de (if you use Google Chrome there is a translate button) and what they are doing is educating people to use condoms. The website indicates personal support available, size of condom, disease recognition, information for heterosexuals and homosexuals. Well I won’t go on, but it’s a great campaign in my opinion, funded by the German Federal Government with health care partners. Until we figured it out we were a bit shocked to find the ads everywhere in all the tram stations, amused, but shocked because we are Canadian, eh, and I doubt we would see such a campaign in Canada. The way it’s presented, informative in a humorous way, it’s a great way to get an important message across to the public and perhaps even save some lives. Sorry, did go on.

Saturday and we visit Landerer winery for the third year in a row. Sadly the male owner passed away earlier this year from a heart attack but the family, wife and son and daughter seem to be handling everything well. 

Little grapes, I used some zoom, they were tiny!

There was a bus tour there so they were busy but we weren’t forgotten about and had seating in our own room away from the noise. Their offerings of wine seems to have expanded quite a lot with 37 offerings, some being hard liquor made from fruit. Looking around the walls they have displayed many of their winnings at fairs, one gold in Vienna! Prices for their wines have not increased, or if they have, very marginally. 

I wondered about the shells and then saw the slugs attached.

The slug "house" I think is to keep them happy and away from the grape vines. I do like going to this winery, it's a family run business and they are hard working with good attitudes it seems and very welcoming.

Then on for lunch in Opfingen at Gasthausblume (flower). We have been there before but it’s been along time ago now and it was really good. The fellows had schnitzel and Christoph said it was great so I asked him what makes a good one. Apparently really pounding the meat to tenderness, a good breading and properly fried so it doesn’t come out greasy. Then a good amount of lemon makes it taste even fresher.

All for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat