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.
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| 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.
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| Very stern looking youngster. |
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| More statues |
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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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