Eiffel Tower and wandering

There "she" is!

We walked to the Eiffel Tower, it’s about half an hour each way, there is a bus, but the walk was enjoyable. A bit about it, you can walk from bottom to top, there are two elevators to two viewing levels, look it up if interested, we just stared, and stared, at it. Even a wedding, well the photos anyway, with the tower as a backdrop, romantic and memorable.

Walked through the Champ de Mars park in front of it, and it had a few children’s play areas, ping pong tables, basketball court, much of the grassy areas were under construction.

Close up, I could stare at it all day, so beautiful!

I took many more pictures but these two will do. People with selfie sticks again, loads of tour buses, all to be expected at the most viewed monument in the world. 

It didn’t take long to walk back into the neighbourhood where we had lunch at Le Pavillon on Av de la Motte Piquet. This part of the 15th has tree lined boulevards and is a lovely part in my book.

I found the Post Office by accident actually, line up was long and building hot so I left. Back the next day and was told I have to buy stamps at a machine anyway, glad I left yesterday. Bruce helped me read the machine and the postage I bought has a tracking number for it, wasn’t cheap as postage goes, for two envelopes but the tracking feature is nice to have.

Stately door, look to the right of the balcony, statue of David.

Strolled along Rue Convention where there was a street market happening, usual knock off purses, cheap clothing, but a couple of fresh fish and meat stalls too. Stopped at Le Cafe du Marche for probably the most delicious quiche lorraine I’ve ever had. The crust was made with filo pastry so light and flaky, baked to perfection. A local fellow in a wheel chair talked to us for a while, this was obviously a locals bar, mostly men coming in for a quick coffee and leaving again, everyone seemed to know everyone else. Interesting people watching from that bar, all sorts walking by. Large flower market across the street made a nice view. Walked the back streets coming home. 

I liked this part of the building

We did another shop at the markets and are starting to get recognized. The young fellow at the wine store is particularly charming, his name is Paul. 

Japanese for lunch and oops, Bruce spilt the soy sauce, lucky we’d finished, ran all over the table and off to the ground. Sitting outside so no wrecked floors, table plastic and no cloth, he said, could have been wine, much worse.

You may remember about the water in the streets, from last year. Architect Haussmann used the water from the Seine to clean the streets, it goes back to the Seine, I’m sure much dirtier but there you go. The water is now turned and off by specific metres around the outflows. We didn’t know who or why this happened last year, a little mystery solved.

Haussmann style buildings

Bruce spilled water onto his computer and it won’t turn on now. Well that seems to happen about once a year so I found an Apple dealer, the closest one is a 40 minute walk one way so we took the bus. Driver pushes a button and the ramp comes out on it’s own, same as in Brussels, so easy for everyone! Driver waived Bruce’s fee (we guessed that might happen), took my 2 Euros but we had the same driver coming back and she waived my fee also, nice driver. The fee for people needing the ramp would be difficult to collect by the driver, everyone else gets on at the front door and pays there, handicapped seats are in the middle of the bus, makes sense.

Anyway, we got to the Apple store in the Marche Saint Germain which is basically a big modern mall. Years ago it was a farmer’s market, now that would be more interesting to me. They directed us to an Apple support shop close by. Poor Bruce is bereft without his “entertainment” of trolling the web where ever something interests him.

Detail above a door

I was reading about the neighbourhood of Saint Germain in the 6th and it used to be quite bohemian with writers and artists living and working there. Gradually it’s been changed to upmarket stores and one writer/blogger figured it had lost a lot of it’s character. Anyway, good to explore another part of Paris and since we’ve now found it is easy, and cheap, we’ll do it again, well, we have to go back and get Bruce’s computer if they can fix it. Must look up what a new one costs these days. Thinking of it and he’s had this one for over two years now so that’s good.

Bruce wanted onion soup and wow! did he luck out at Les Artisans, my caesar salad was good as well. Many diners around us were eating steak tartare, (spiced, minced, raw beef) it is common here but I just can’t get my head around it. There is also a shop that sells horse meat, I won’t be going there either. The bathroom was “interesting”, big steel washtub, water flow by using a foot pad. Another common thing there are two stalls, men’s no door, woman’s has a door, common washing up area, and usually the woman’s toilet has no lid on it, guess that’s so the guys can use it too.

You may have read or know that Paris is considered to be a chic city where people dress up, even to go to the shops. Well they do and don’t, like everywhere, but I saw an exception the other day. She floated past, grey/silver hair, knee length loose, sleeveless dress in white with red flowers, shoes were spike heeled red pumps, tres chic! As I watched her go by a lady sitting next to me gave me a nod to agree.

Pig out! Onion soup (French, although there is no need to say that here) at Les Artisans which is becoming my favourite place to go, the servers are very friendly, speak some English but appreciate our attempts at usually butchering French. The soup is beef based for the broth but we can’t identify the other flavours they meld together so well, anyway we’ll be back again. Sometimes a place just captivates you in a new city, it’s a combination of service, friendliness and of course the food and drink, and outlook for people watching. 

Had, just had to buy a baguette from the next door boulangerie/bakery line ups in there and everyone walking by had one in hand. I’ve read no “real” French person will buy one from a department store, you go directly to the bakery. I’m in agreement there, the brown one I bought was still warm, maybe they have warming tables, but who cares, yum. Back to the pig-out, suffice to say, bread, cheese, salmon. canned, for Bruce, olives and stilton cheese, which a friend said, English cheese in France? and he’s undoubtably right, there are over 200 varieties of cheese here. It would be fun to take a cheese tour, but the local shop could probably guide us through, must ask.

All for now, Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat who can now open a patio door for a stroll outside, not good!

Jardin du Luxembourg

Sunday and we decide the to go to Jardin du Luxembourg, Garden of Luxembourg. I've not done any real research on it, just enjoyed going, if you are interested here you go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardin_du_Luxembourg

Beautiful, my favourite!

It’s about a 30 block walk there and 30 blocks back straight down Rue Vaugirard, outside our apartment, longest street in Paris, and by the time we were done walking back and forth it felt like it! Lots to see along the way though.

Wonderful tree, looks like it's dancing to me.

The garden itself is huge, but not like gardens we are used to in Canada. Being from there, when you say “garden” I expect flowers, lots of flowers, not so here. Maybe we missed the portion with more flowers, easy to do in such a large space, after all we didn't even see the palace!

This fellow is drunk on wine and the others are trying to get him on his horse.

There are flowers around all the statues but there is also a tennis court, sizeable children’s play area and lots of grassy areas that people are not supposed to walk on. Many, many, statues of famous people. 

This "fellow" was called The Poet, looks more like a musician to me.

Before getting there we stopped for a restorative lunch of apricot crepe for Bruce and omelette for me at Madame, where they politely say “they serve men too”. The two places we’ve had an omelette show us that, at least in those places, they do know how to cook an omelette well.

This is the dome to the palace, we didn't get there...

Back to the garden and truthfully it was lovely, trees were old, large and various in species, worth going just for them.

No idea who this person is...

People were certainly enjoying themselves, many joggers, you heard them running on the gravel, people propped up or laying across the numerous metal chairs along the paths, many reading a book or just sunbathing. It’s a lovely restful space in the middle of this large city.

And another 

Liked her almost "Mona Lisa" smile and period dress

There was even a statue of Liberty, another model for the final one sent to New York. 

I’d planned to take the bus back, bad plan, street is both one way, the wrong way to get me back and all torn up in many places. While it looked doable on the bus map, it wasn’t, my poor short legs were extremely tired arriving home. A good day overall there was a breeze and wasn’t too hot or cold for that matter. 

Bruce has looked up the Eiffel tower which I wish I’d taken a shot of from a tree lined boulevard with it at the end in full glory, sorry, didn’t but it’s about half the distance to walk, which means we can walk there and take another boat tour! Just now my thought! Yippee, that was great last year even in the rain.

It is Monday and many of the shops are closed, they do open half day Sunday so we'll wait until tomorrow to see which ones are on holidays, usually for the month. They leave in droves to the south of France and the roadways, called Black Saturday, in the news, are grid locked.  

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

We are now in Paris

Here's the picture of the free wheeling lawn mower, previous post, liked the gate also or wouldn't have bothered showing it.

I wondered why my hair stylist in Rieselfeld looked familiar, her name is Angelika, went to her again and realized she looks like Pauline Collins, who played Shirley Valentine! Quite a resemblance really. She also has a great sense of humour.

Dawna and Erwin were in town getting ready to move into the flat. We had lunch with them and then went to the flat for the usual champers and chat. They’ve been to the South of France and had driven over 5000 kilometres visiting their favourite cities and towns. They both really love the countryside in that area and so get around as much as possible to see it. 

We’re now in Paris, left Freiburg 06:52, early! Taxi came, we got escorted to the fast train and 3.5 hours later we’re in Paris. It worked out fine, almost easier really. Countryside is rolling hills, pastures, saw fields of canola, yellow, and a field of sunflowers, both are grown to be pressed into oil. I saw Charolais, read white cattle herds, and it’s still really green, especially pretty between Dijon (yes the mustard city) and Paris.

Second Taxi driver was nice too, traffic terrible, he said by this time of year when Parisians go on holiday it’s usually lighter, but not yet. We went past Museo D’orsey, Notre Dame Cathedral, a building that has a gold coloured dome housing many things but what I remember is the Military Museum. I told him we were on the Right Bank last year, he said there is always a question of which Bank is better. Air conditioning to Bruce worked well, many of these roller taxis are only air-conditioned in the front and being vans, windows don’t open often. 

Neil, the fellow who cleans for Joan our host, was here to greet us and show me household things. He calls me mam Beverley so I’ll have to ask what country he comes from, maybe born Parisian but he calls Joan Mam Mrs Kroenig, I’ll ask. So we basically dropped our bags, did a shop close by and then found a cafe to have a bite of lunch at Le General Beuret. Food and drink are more expensive here, hadn’t remembered that.

Look closely, this is a vegetable duck! Well done I think, posted outside a grocery store, natch.

Now the elevator is broken, one of two so we’re not stuck, but what is it with us and faulty elevators? Anyway the flat is fine, smallish but fine. She has a complete garden on the patio that stretches from the dining room to the bedroom. Really done a nice job on it for a small space.

Went out again for a bite of dinner, I had contacted Joan about the elevator and she recommended cafe Les Ecrivains (means the Writers) so we went and it was great! 

We’re both feeling a bit train lagged, is there such a thing? Not likely due to the journey, just the ungodly hour it left with us on it, early night for us both.

Mini-rant to hosts of Airbnb - things that are rarely provided so I’m not targeting any one host here and some may be due to cultural differences.

Clean cloths for both bathroom and kitchen

Paper towel

Hangers for clothing

Garbage bags

Ice cube trays

Not, everyone who’s stayed there before's, left over shampoo/conditioner

Give us a drawer, preferably two for things like pants and underwear that don’t hang

Give us a proper drying rack when you have a clothes washing machine and at least a couple of soaps to start, so one can get the brand name preferred for the washer.

That’s about it and pretty minor in life but niggling anyway. We shop for the above things and I had a brilliant idea (I know bragging but I’m going with it.) There are no drawers for clothing here, and that’s common with these apartments see above, so I bought a large hard plastic grocery bag, put all our underwear in it and hung it in the closet. This apartment is fine, but when we moved in yesterday we were both quite frustrated I think. Mini-rant over. 

Joan loves woven baskets, they are everywhere, really nice ones, different sizes for different things. It is quite similar to Linda’s apartment in Brussels in that she as an eclectic mix of decor from all over Europe including some antiques. 

On the dining table, the tandoori oven cover holds napkins, great use!

Wall decoration is just as eclectic, large posters of bull fight advertisements from Sevilla and Bilboa, family photos, advertisements several years old, lots of mirrors, it really is a mix but also works here. 

Poster from the 1959 movie Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon

It is small but comfortable. The difference is this place has everything crammed into a space that is less than half Linda’s is. Joan teaches music to children. 

Bowsprit (had to ask Bruce what it is called)

Titanic - really?

Received an email from Augustina asking how the journey was, she’s so thoughtful and sends God’ blessings to us. If you know us at all you know we are not religious people but somehow when she says that it is very comforting somehow to me anyway. 

Second full day here, there is a wet/dry clothes cleaner right across the street so we took some shirts to him. Expensive though, so I did buy a clothes dryer rack.

We wander further to find indoor markets! They are chock-o-block full of fresh everything, cheese, meat, fish, vegetable, fruit, Lebanese food, Japanese food, florists, bakeries (of course) there is even a Monoprix grocery store. I’ve been buying packaged salads from the Carrefour, no more! Although they are better than others I’ve had. There is so much selection available so close and fresher. 

Had lunch at Cafe Chastel, a local’s wine and coffee bar, had the best omelette ever! Passed one of the few cheese shops and Bruce wanted Stilton so we got him some at Androuet. Passed by Laurent Vincent Boucherie Lecourbe, a butchery on Rue Lecourbe and got three slices of cooked beef that looks wonderful but was really pricey, we’d better enjoy that as a treat and it is. This section of town in the 15th district we discovered is like going to Granville Island in Vancouver. It will be difficult to choose what to buy and of course greedy me wants a bit of everything! As you’ve heard many times before, we were in foodie heaven today, even if mostly by eye rather than stomach.

Went back down to the shops again, wandered in a few, stopped at the Monoprix, large grocery chain. “Ate” at Au Roi Du Cafe, The King of the Cafe, nothing kingly about it really. My onion soup was cool, and when it was returned it, it had turned to mush under either the broiler or heaven forbid a microwave. Oh, and the waiter asked Bruce if he wanted the bill, that has never happened before in Europe, they wait until you ask for it letting you sit there as long as you want. I picked up some Lebanese food for take out.

That's our first few days in Paris, look for sequels. 

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Mostly about Food! Yummy Food!

We went downtown to get the sleeves shortened on Bruce’s leather coat, back to the store he bought it from. The shop caters to tourists and locals too, they sell lederhosen and dirndls, the dirndls sell for between 70 and 100 Euros, didn't look at the price for lederhosen.

Found this little fellow outside the shop.

This is a water fountain, sun was at the wrong angle to get a better picture of it but the lions on top are great.

Stop at the Eis Cafe for an iced tea with lemon sherbet in it, yummy. The Munster markt has a number of large tents in it for the annual wine festival happening this week.

We used our air conditioner a few times, works well, should do because we get it serviced once a year. It’s a bit of a fiddle though, have to open up the winter garden door which requires a key at the bottom and a long rod with a whirly thing at the top, putting it back in place when turning off is not pleasant, hot and seems to take forever to line up the gismos.

English speaking day, I had a few errands to do so left early in the morning to avoid the heat. Went to the tobacco store for an update on our transit passes, Frank there speaks English, on to the Apoteka for meds, they speak English, Doctor, receptionist, fellow at the Edeka wants to move to Canada. All excellent English really, wow! 

We made southern fried chicken, I've never had it before and it was a treat! Bruce chose a spicy recipe with lots of herbs, cut the chicken into strips, mixed with herbs and buttermilk we made by adding 1/2 a lemon to regular milk, marinade for six hours, then drench the strips in herbed flour and fry. Not sure that’s how they did it in Driving Miss Daisy, but it worked for us. Tasty morsels that I dare say are fit to serve to company! A successful experiment, I would add a bit more spice, but good. 

Back to the Kaiserstuhl with Christoph for lunch at Gasthaus Bären, I order trout and it comes complete with head and tail, yikes!, immediately get rid of those so it isn’t staring at me. Tasty though, we’ve moved on from spargel season to pfifferling (mushrooms) season. Christoph said it was a rather insincere way now, for what it was originally intended, using up the mountains of produce they have in the season, not really relevant to today, but tradition. This Gasthaus is third generation run and the cooks, waiters all look alike. Grandma still works in the kitchen at 91 years old, still dying her hair, they are portly people. Good, simple, German food, cooked well on offer here. Seems to be a hiker’s stop, many people with walking poles stopped by.

Detail on the eaves of the house next door.

Back to Landerer winery for another tasting and buying more wine. The daughter served us this time until a large group came in. She has a great sense of humour and a bubbly personality. Sometimes they give us a bit large tastings and there are no spit buckets, we used a flowering plant to pour the extra into this time. That plant will likely do extra well on it’s wine offerings. They always give Christoph a free bottle of wine, this time we got one too. Bought two bottles of sparkling wine this trip, which have a very delicate flavour, doubt we’ll mix this with orange juice. 

We made Italian sausage, then into gravy and onto home made biscuits. Started with freshly minced pork, many spices, frozen until it could be cut easier. Bruce made the gravy which was milk and more spice, I made the biscuits and had to take the recipe off the internet since I couldn’t remember my mother’s but it came very, very close. Good, very filling and rich though, would serve smaller portions and a salad along side. 

I took that lovely orange/melon coloured tunic into the seamstress to get it altered, it’s too tight and she made suggestions. She has a very different way of dress but it works for her and found out she speaks English which she has been reluctant to do before. Making moderations to this tunic will either work or not but I cannot wear it as is so we’ll see. I think, Natalie is her name, is a creative person due to her creative dress so hoping she makes it into a garment I can wear. They have a limited supply of fabric there so limited choice. Update, it looks great!

We also made chili con queso, a dish Bruce used to make a lot. It contains onion, tomato, peppers (hot and sweet varieties), basil, celery and cheese, all boiled up together to produce yumminess. 

Dawna and Erwin came by Freiburg as a resting spot between the flight from Ottawa to Frankfurt, before going to the south of France. They rent a small house owned by a friend in a small village close to Nimes. Lovely visit as always! 

Saw these in a shop window, looks like they are having a grand time!

We started with our representative at the train ticket office but she had difficulty contacting the boarding help with the ramp in France so she’ll get back to us early next week.

Out with Christoph on Saturday and he gets the convertible this time, weather not conducive to have the top down unfortunately, windy going and raining as we came back, he admitted that there were fewer cars left, this was probably the last choice available. We went to Staufen as we have many times but tried a different restaurant this time called Fauststube Löwen. Food was considerably better than the place we have gone to before a few times, not that theirs is bad, this was just much better. 

This is a hotel that Faust was supposed to have done his alchemist experiments and died in. Faust is a legend of a person who sold his soul to the devil and there are many legends and stories about this “person”. Christoph knows of plays that have been done of him, there was a romance, and it seems there are two parts to the play, first one contains the romance and second rarely gets performed because of boredom, look it up if you are interested (or not) but I won’t go further on it.

The Saturday market was on and bustling, rain held off for our lunch and the market closed up almost immediately after, good timing! There were a couple of weddings also with parties drinking champagne in the square. The Rathaus or town hall is where people get married legally in Germany. In Heidelberg, us and others, would sit in the square on a Saturday afternoon and watch the wedding parties go by. Something uplifting about seeing that if you don’t go down the other cynical road of wondering how long the marriage will last…

Driving south of Freiburg is mainly small villages, viewed first by their church spires and through hectares of corn, wheat and on the hillsides, vines, it’s pretty in a different way than the Kaiserstuhl.  

Walking around the neighbourhood on Sunday again we see different things every time. 

Wet web, looks like lace!

Walked the laneways and you get a bit of look into how people live better than the main roads, but not peering into windows! 

Working fountain if you pump a lot.

Miniature John Deere digger, smaller version of what my Dad used.

Everyone loves flowers but Germans seem to take that to a higher degree with their potted plants on a windowsill or in the back yard. 

Parking places for cars are in what I would call sheds, open to the sides and no doors.

Don't know what this plant is, pretty though.

We also saw a roaming free standing lawnmower, same principle as the Rumba vacuum cleaner. It just moseyed around the lawn cutting it. That's a real time saver, took a picture but I'm at the picture limit for this post.

Well that's all for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Happy 150th Birthday Canada!!!!!!!

Our lapel pins worn proudly today!

I hope you are able to celebrate Canada Day in some fashion. There are so many events across the country, it will be easy enough to choose one.

Dawna and Erwin were here for a couple of days as a rest stop on their way to southern France. Erwin said he expected to see Canadian flags in the flat and that we should have the neighbourhood here for a party! Good idea, didn't think of it ourselves. 

Cheers! Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!! for our Canadian Friends!!!!!!!!

Sorry men, a day late but meant all the same!

Florist shop

We made bruschetta and it was grand! Better than we’ve eaten in restaurants. Why? I don’t know, Bruce trolls recipes, I troll blogs, each to our “taste”. 

Our interview with Ali has caught the attention of a fellow who is a screenwriter currently in Paris, Ontario who has a friend and co-worker in Freiburg named Adrienne. So when he is here we will meet, but we will also meet this friend and Sunday was hot and humid, two tram rides to get close to her house so we’ve re-arranged a meeting for early this week. These are relatively famous people in their fields and I am, honestly a bit intimidated, but also know they are just people who have gained success which I admire in anyone.

Side note, the only other celebrity I’ve run into, almost physically, around a corner, but not actually met, is Sly Stallone at UBC Golf Club, I recognized him and kept going, he is not a tall person, almost looked at each other in the eye. (P.S. I didn’t regularly hang out there, it’s a ritzy place, not my style but beautiful, went with a charity group I volunteered for.)

I met Adrienne, at her flat, she is a very accomplished person, player and teacher of violin, was an opera singer, so voice, and French, probably a lot more. We lunched on her outdoor patio, a tasty lentil dish, fresh tomato, cucumber and potatoes. She’s vegan, she didn’t care for meat as a teenager and living in war torn Amsterdam they could not get it often anyway. She was Vegan before the term was invented, due to both poverty and lack of wanting to eat anything with a face. She has never had a drivers licence, as she came of age to get one, her mother expected she would want one and she said “cars are stinky, no”.

She brought out an atlas for me to show her where we lived in Canada and we looked at the places she has lived and travelled to.

Bruce will enjoy her company as much as I did, and perhaps with Bruce’s better knowledge of classical music she will enjoy him more too. We will have to meet elsewhere though because he will not be able to do the exterior stairs (I lost count after about forty!) I am glad and thankful Ali did the interview which introduced us to Jeffrey and Adrienne, it is great to meet new people!

Black Forest and oops, view of the sign to the Ladies

View of Schwarzwald, www.haus-maria-lindenberg.de

Christoph drove us into the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) to Sankt (Saint) Peter and Jägerhaus (means game warden;s house) Gasthof and Restaurant. We’d been a couple of years ago in the rain so it was great to go on a sunny day. Food is very good, I had the maultaschen which I describe as large square tortellini done in a broth see no. 6 on this site https://www.thelocal.de/20170614/german-food-meals-cuisine-best-list

Then we toured a bit further to get almost 360 degree views of the Black Forest. Today is Corpus Christi so there had been a procession through town. The street was lined with yellow/white flags and there were shrines to Christ with baskets of flowers around statues of him. 

Fountain, see the flags behind, they came in all sizes

Christoph and I entered the church to hear people chanting their Hail Mary’s and singing. No pictures, didn’t want to disturb the process. 

What a beautiful spot!

Went to Zoo Burkart on Saturday, saw the bunnies as usual, but one cage was marked with the symbol for males, knowing what bunnies do, guess they keep them separate. Didn’t think about that before and had never noticed the sign.

Went to Extrablat restaurant by the river, the river is really the only reason we go. Clientele are mostly university students and we are the oldest ones there, makes me feel like an old fogey. 

Coming out of the Edeka grocery store and a baby blue and white coloured convertible Mustang drove a bit down the sidewalk! What? It had lace on the antenna and door handles and looked like it came off the factory floor it was that immaculate. With my jaw hanging open, I asked the fellow how old, 50 years old and from Florida. Coming into our driveway and I see a Range Rover with Florida plates on it. Deduction, someone from Florida is getting married. Oh my, that Mustang was gorgeous, looked like this! www.cloud9classics.com/1967-ford-mustang-convertible-28500/

http://bevbrucelexi.blogspot.de/2017/05/day-tripping.html Sunday, repeat of this post to Chada Thai, such good food and service and pleasant to sit out under the horse chestnut trees, umbrellas too this time, no need for a tapa. Then up the mountain for the views of Freiburg.

Freiburg's Munster

This is not the best picture of it, taken from inside the restaurant, there were people sitting at tables with the best view and I wasn't about to ask them to move. Christoph heard they will be finishing the tower off later this year! It's been a very long project because each piece has been restored rather than replaced with new stone.

All for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

More Day Tripping and an Interview

We felt honoured to be interviewed by a professional blogger! We met Ali and Andy when they lived here in Freiburg and have kept in touch via email mostly, here's the link http://www.aliadventures.com/2017/06/non-traditional-interviews-retiring-europe/

Unlikely coincidence happened the other day, I bought a bottle of beer, which I do maybe twice a year, not often, then I read on social media Ryan and Angela were at the brewery just hours before! The saying from Casablanca applies of all the beer joints …, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”, well, loosely.

Augustina, comes to clean for us, she’s taking her Masters degree in Economics and Politics so this is very much temporary work for her. Her mother is from Tanzania, I think she was born there, should write more about this when I get more info from her… We’ve been adopted! She said she feels disrespectful by calling us by our first names due to her culture and wants to call us Mum and Papa, so we’re Mum Beverley and Papa Bruce. We are both reading about Tanzania, because I’m curious and know next to nothing about African countries. The elder people are highly respected, age equals more knowledge to them. For me it’s a great opportunity to learn about another culture quite foreign to a Canadian or European one. 

Bruce’s birthday and loose plans fly out the window because he had a sleep in, well it is his birthday and he can do whatever he wants! The Indian food place in our neighbourhood is closed for the month of June, wah, wah! It’s sister restaurant downtown will be open though so we’ll go there to get our fix. 

Augustina made a card for Papa Bruce giving him many blessings from the Lord. He felt truly touched and it was kind of her to write it. 

We go downtown to Konvikstrasse, an old neighbourhood in Freiburg with wisteria vines crossing the top of the street, old thick vines that are beautiful when blooming. We stopped in at Culinary Zoller which is owned by Gunter and his wife Adelheid who Bruce met a couple of years ago. She has ALS and her health has deteriorated some according to Gunter, but she’s still getting around with modifications to help her. Next day we ran into her on the street. She is clearly weaker than last year but is soldiering on, more in a bit...

Also stopped at Craftbeer Lodge, a store that sells dozens of different craft beers, interested for Ryan and Angela’s project www.craftbeer-lodge.com It is not a brew house that I know of but a place for those to sell from.

Then we went for our Indian food fix to find the two fellows that usually work in Rieselfeld to be working downtown. We went to pay for our meal and had very little cash, had to use up almost pennies to pay the bill, they don’t take debit or credit cards. We also had stopped in a cheese shop for well, cheese, smoked dill salmon and a bottle of wine, she didn’t take cards either. We made it anyway, home with much lighter wallets. A word on that, cash is preferred over cards, in both Germany and Spain, in the regions we inhabit. Merchant fees for cards can be quite high and they would have to boost their prices to cover that expense so they just don’t in the smaller establishments. That’s all good but, in general, a person needs to carry more cash here than in Canada.

Out with Christoph and we eat at Zum Ochsen, they have a lovely, covered patio area to sit in. 

Bird house in rafters

Liked what I assume to be painted milk jugs and the metal plane.

Afterward we toured a wee bit through Markgräferland wine area which is directly across the valley to the Kaiserstuhl. Markgräflerland is mainly Protestant and Kaiserstuhl is mainly Catholic due to past rulers. Christoph gave us a bit of history about both areas that used to be one volcano but split into the valley between eons ago. 

Both lands have white and red limestone and granite, with the limestone being porous and granite not, we wondered how that worked out, he’ll look it up and tell us next time.

Monday, Whitmonday or Pentecost Day and we go downtown for breakfast for me, forgot to buy eggs on Saturday. I order eggs benedict with smoked salmon, which would have been a treat, instead it was yuck! The salmon didn’t look right, the hollandaise sauce was from a package, yuck! Presentation was good but that doesn’t help when I could only eat a quarter of it. Waiter came by to ask what was wrong and I just said it was okay but not to my taste. He did a good thing and didn’t charge us for it. Oh well sometimes, most of the time we are lucky, but sometimes not.

Another coincidence, maple here is called ahorn. It was referenced for pancakes on the breakfast menu at the place above paragraph. We didn’t know what that meant, looking it up, it means maple. Then meeting Adelheid and Gunter he couldn’t remember the English name for it and we were able to tell him. 

Adelheid has trouble speaking now so her voice has very little volume especially hard for Bruce to hear. Gunter and I pretty much carried the conversation, his English is good, so is Adelheid’s but she said she understands more than she can speak. Gunter gets more practice in their store with the tourists that come in. He attends a culinary trade show twice a year in Stuttgart, smallish show, but high quality vendors that he gets quite a bit of business from. Adelheid mentioned the metzgerai or butcher in Rieselfeld has great salami made with truffles and covered on parmesan cheese, I think we’ll be trying a bit of that! They know Italy quite well, he carries a lot of Italian products in the store and she lived in Florence for years taking art lessons. Interesting people, interesting visit with them.

Making full use of the chair.

All for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat