Out and About ... again

We do get some beauties!

The next day trip was to Bahlingen for lunch at www.lamm-bahlingen.com Landgasthof.zum Lamm. Christoph does know his German food and guest houses! They served a tomato chilli jam along with fresh butter and bread, none of us had ever tasted anything like it, delicious.

Collage of old things outside the restauran

There were many bicyclers stopped for lunch in their spandex gear. Most weren’t youngsters either, there was a lot of grey hair around.

Hottest day so far here so we went to Sasbach to a beer garden that overlooks a weir of the river Rhine.

It is very close to Breisach which is on the river itself. Cooler sitting under magnificently large horse-chestnut trees. The nuts are small yet and their spines are quite soft. My childhood home had five of these trees lining the driveway. My grandfather would visit and take home the nuts to keep spiders out of his basement.

People were canoeing and kayaking up the river and stopping at that point to load up their cars. Lots of cyclists here too, hardly a place left to park a bike. Coming back you could guess there was a watering hole of some sort, pool or lake by the amount of cars parked, there were a lot. It was Corpus Christi Day which is a stat holiday here. All and sundry were out enjoying the good weather, as we were! Our neighbours even have a kiddy pool in their yard.

It’s starting to be cherry season and they are sweet and juicy. They form an entirely different function to Lexi, she thinks, hmm, new round things to play with. She picks them up in her mouth by stem and then bats them. Well you know we won’t be keeping cherries on the table from now on.

Our lavender on terrace

We were downtown, had a lunch at one of our fav Italian restaurants with misunderstandings again but we survived. Bruce went on ahead of me and ordered bruschetta for me (fresh tomato, onion on sliced garlic baguette bread), it’s good there. The waiter thought he wanted a wine that came close to pronunciation and brought it. Ah, well, it’s that Italian, German, English mix that tosses a spanner in the works sometimes. We thought it might have been a peace offering for the last time when I asked for my three quarters full plate to be taken home which he thought I wanted it taken away, not home. The German words for take home/away are very similar so that didn’t happen, they tossed it. Well if you live in a country where you don’t speak the language well there will be times like this. A friend who lived here for a few months said “life is too short to learn German” and concentrates on his Spanish instead.

After the lunch on the terrace which had no breeze to cool it we went and sat under more horse-chestnut trees in an artsy district we like for a drink, water for me this time since that’s what I had wanted in the first place. Then we went to visit the lovely woman from a gift store called Eigen Art. It’s more like a sculpture art gallery really and the proprietor is extremely nice. She makes up stories around the sculptures she sells and tells about their “lives”. I would consider her store a whimsical one and she certainly adds to it with her stories of the creatures therein. They have had a four foot gorilla adorning their front door for months and he was gone today. Apparently he has a new home at an accountant’s lobby and doesn’t have to endure children patting and mauling him anymore and therefore is much happier, but honestly, probably more bored.

There we found what they call knife rests, think chopstick rests and you’ll get an idea. They are chrome steel sculptures of dachshund dogs, small, long and skinny, four in number and so very well done we had to take the little buggers home for the house.

Once again, it is nice for me to find stores that sell unique products that are far from “the maddening crowd” of regular shopping.

I wore shorts for the first time this season. Before doing so I put some fake tanning lotion on my legs so as not to blind, seriously blind, anyone with the whiteness. Well that never goes as smoothly as one hopes but better than nothing. I noticed another woman who had missed a patch too so felt a bit better. It is the same everywhere but I cannot believe what some women go into public wearing, not prudishly, just in some sort of semblance of good sense. Shall I drink the bowl of milk, being catty? I did see a most beautiful dress today on a woman, who could have been going to a high society social function, in a beautiful mid-length frock but was walking along with her groceries. Perhaps that was the coolest garment she owned. Here in Freiburg, a University city and touristic one, people dress rather casually. Well I’ve finished my milk now…

As usual we leave the flat every day, whether to go for a meal or just hang about in a cafe with a drink. A  popular drink here is Apfelschorle, meaning apple juice with sparkling water, juice is more expensive than water hence the mix.

Out with Christoph and on a prior meeting I had told him about my Mazda Miata convertible. He said the car sharing program has one in Rieselfeld should he rent it? Of course, need you ask? It’s a small BMW, seating so comfortable, small engine which became evident on hills but since we didn’t go into the Alps it suited us fine. It was lovely to be in a convertible again! We smelled the various crops as we passed an Bruce even enjoyed the windy back seat. This was the first time for Christoph in a convertible so he had to figure out how to take the top down, but it was a treat for him as well. He said he likes going out with us because we try new things outside of what he would normally do.

We had lunch at Krone, www.krone-achkarren.de I had white asparagus since the season is almost over and three lovely large prawns cooked to perfection. Then we went on to Landerer Winery, where we visited last year almost to the day. There was a bus tour of slightly sloshed German people milling about so we tasted, bought and left. This Vintner takes his guests up into the Kaiserstuhl, providing tastings on the way. His tractor hauls two wagons and he even provides cushions for them.

Typical village street

Lovely day back in the Kaiserstuhl with Christoph and I think we’ll be renting that car again!

Our flat partners Dawna and Erwin were in Freiburg for a couple of days so we had a nice visit. We drove to Titisee for lunch on a terrace overlooking the lake. We’ve always taken the train so it was a different experience to drive. Winding roads and lots of wild flowers on the sides, through tunnels and around large rock formations.

Hotel at Titisee, like the wavy windows.

We were all sitting outside at home when a storm came through, moved into the winter garden to watch it. Wow! What a storm it was, the rain was blowing against the windows so hard it actually came into the space and we couldn’t see out for a bit. We had almost a swimming pool on the patio because it couldn’t drain fast enough but did later. Goes to show that this building was well engineered for it to recover such an onset of weather without damage.

We got a new couch set, blue this time, previous was cream and wearing out a bit. Our cleaner Crina has a large family of four brothers and seven sisters so we asked if they could use it and they took the older set away. Otherwise we would have had to pay 100 euros to have the delivery company take it and they don’t give it away but chop it up which seemed such a waste. Glad it went to a good home.

That's all for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat the cherry football player